Railway (RRB) photo and signature requirements
Railway recruitment applications are issued as numbered employment notices, each with its own specification. The structure is consistent; the numbers are not, and they are set per notice.
What these forms generally require
- Photograph — a colour passport-style photograph, uploaded as a prepared file.
- Signature — black ink on white paper, in its own smaller size range.
- Sometimes additional documents, depending on the notice — for instance a thumb impression on some recruitments. Read the notice for the post you are applying to rather than assuming it matches another railway application you have made.
This page deliberately does not quote kilobyte figures. The limits differ by examination, by post and by cycle, and a stale number is worse than no number because it costs you an application. What is here is the structure of the form and how to read your own requirement out of the official notification. Railway recruitment is issued per notice, so a figure from one CEN does not carry to another.
Why the cycle number matters
Railway recruitment is advertised by centralised employment notice — a CEN number. Two consequences for someone preparing documents:
- A guide written for a previous CEN may be out of date. The specification is reissued with each notice. This is the single most common reason people arrive with the wrong size in mind.
- Different posts under the same broad recruitment can differ. Check the notice for the post you are actually applying to.
The application portal is rrbapply.gov.in. The notice itself is published on the railway recruitment board sites; the specification section is headed along the lines of instructions for uploading photograph and signature.
Preparing the two files
- Photograph: plain light background, face squarely to the camera, even lighting, no shadow across the face. Recency rules are common — check the notice.
- Signature: unruled white paper, black ink, signed inside a box rather than edge to edge so the form's crop does not clip it.
- Convert both here, setting the minimum as well as the maximum from your notice. Railway forms typically state a range, and a file under the floor is rejected as firmly as one over the ceiling.
Common questions
Can I use the same files for two different railway notices?
Only if both notices state the same limits, which you should verify rather than assume. Re-checking takes two minutes; a rejected application costs you the cycle.
Where exactly in the notice is the specification?
Usually an annexure near the end, or a section inside the instructions for filling the online form. Search the PDF for "KB" — every reader has a find function, and it will land you on the section directly.
Applying to a railway notice and found a figure here that contradicts it? Tell me — corrections from people who have actually submitted the form are the most useful feedback this site gets.