The RRB section controller cut off is the mark out of 100, after normalisation, where each Railway Recruitment Board stopped calling a community's candidates to the CBAT aptitude round. In the first recruitment under CEN 04/2025, the unreserved line ran from 91.67 at RRB Bhubaneswar to 98.35 at RRB Chandigarh.
Those are strikingly high numbers for a 100 question paper. With only 368 posts spread across 21 boards, each RRB had a handful of seats and a large field. Below is the complete zone wise table, what it means for your target score, and how the CBAT and final merit work after the CBT.
Exam at a glance
Recruitment
CEN 04/2025, 368 posts across all RRBsCut off released
8 May, by each RRB on its own siteLowest UR line
91.67 (Bhubaneswar)Highest UR line
98.35 (Chandigarh)Minimum to be considered
40% UR and EWS, 30% OBC and SC, 25% STFinal merit
70% CBT plus 30% CBAT, CBAT T-score of 42 in each batteryOfficial website
Your RRB's site, such as rrbahmedabad.gov.in
What the section controller cut off measures
Section controller selection has one written stage. When people search for the RRB section controller CBT 1 cut off, this single CBT is what they mean; there is no second CBT as in NTPC or JE. The CBT cut off decides only one thing: who goes on to the computer based aptitude test. Each RRB calls candidates community by community, in CBT merit order, up to a multiple of its vacancies stated in the notice, and whoever comes last in that call list fixes the line for their community.
Because selection is board wise, a candidate who applied to RRB Patna competes only with others who chose Patna. The paper itself, 100 questions on mathematical and analytical ability, logic and mental reasoning, is described in the RRB section controller syllabus guide.
RRB section controller cut off zone wise, CEN 04/2025
| RRB | UR | OBC | EWS | SC | ST |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chandigarh | 98.35 | 95.73 | 96.22 | 92.93 | - |
| Ajmer | 97.31 | 95.71 | 96.27 | 92.14 | 91.25 |
| Prayagraj | 97.31 | 95.29 | 96.34 | 90.98 | 81.31 |
| Muzaffarpur | 96.33 | 95.47 | 95.67 | 86.20 | 79.61 |
| Kolkata | 96.30 | 94.33 | 94.88 | 92.21 | 75.76 |
| Thiruvananthapuram | 96.18 | 95.67 | 93.09 | 88.80 | 85.22 |
| Gorakhpur | 96.12 | 93.67 | 94.66 | 87.67 | 80.47 |
| Bengaluru | 95.80 | 93.15 | 93.52 | 86.15 | 81.14 |
| Ranchi | 95.55 | 94.45 | 93.33 | 84.86 | - |
| Secunderabad | 94.82 | 93.10 | 91.46 | 86.62 | 84.40 |
| Guwahati | 94.64 | 91.19 | 92.29 | 86.67 | 82.29 |
| Malda | 94.61 | 94.28 | - | 90.15 | 80.47 |
| Mumbai | 94.19 | 91.45 | 92.36 | 87.87 | 86.02 |
| Siliguri | 93.98 | 92.14 | 90.37 | 85.52 | - |
| Bhopal | 93.87 | 92.27 | - | 87.29 | - |
| Jammu-Srinagar | 93.87 | 89.10 | - | 83.74 | 83.50 |
| Bilaspur | 93.69 | 91.84 | 92.00 | 84.92 | 77.00 |
| Chennai | 93.67 | 93.28 | - | - | 72.00 |
| Ahmedabad | 93.43 | 88.87 | 88.85 | 88.00 | 76.00 |
| Patna | 92.59 | 90.26 | - | 75.76 | - |
| Bhubaneswar | 91.67 | 89.67 | - | 80.62 | 79.44 |
A dash means the board published no figure for that community, usually because it had no vacancy in it. The Ahmedabad and Bhopal lines above were checked against those boards' own notices; the rest are rounded from the published notices as reported. Ex-servicemen had separate lines, mostly between about 60 and 77.
Reading the zone wise numbers
- Small boards ran hottest. Chandigarh, Ajmer and Prayagraj all needed above 97 for UR. With very few posts, a single mark separated dozens of candidates.
- Reserved lines were close behind. OBC lines sat within about five marks of UR at every board. At Chennai the gap was under half a mark.
- ST lines varied most. They ranged from 72 at Chennai to over 91 at Ajmer, because some boards had a single ST post and others several.
- Few seats overall. RRB Ahmedabad, for example, shortlisted just 121 candidates for the CBAT, and RRB Bhopal later called only six to document verification.
Minimum marks versus the CBAT line
| Community | Minimum |
|---|---|
| ST | 25% |
| SC, OBC (non creamy layer) | 30% |
| UR, EWS | 40% |
In this recruitment the real CBAT line was more than double the minimum for every community. Use the minimum only to understand who is in the race, and aim for a score in the mid 90s if you want to be safe across most boards.
After the CBT: CBAT and the final list
The CBAT is a set of aptitude test batteries on a computer, and wrong answers there carry no penalty. Each battery is a hurdle: anything below a T-score of 42 in even one of them ends your run, whatever your CBT score. For those who pass, the merit list adds 70 percent of the CBT marks to 30 percent of the CBAT marks. In this cycle the CBAT followed in late May and early June, and boards then published document verification lists towards the end of that month.
The medical test uses the A-2 standard, with distant vision of 6/9 in each eye and near vision of 6/6 without glasses, normal colour vision, and no Lasik or similar surgery. Check this before you invest months in preparation; the RRB section controller eligibility page covers age, degree and medical rules.
Section controller expected cut off for the next notice
A newer section controller notice with 119 posts has followed, fewer than a third of the earlier 368. Fewer seats per board tends to raise the line, not lower it. Other factors include the number of applicants per board, the difficulty of each shift after normalisation, and the vacancy split by community.
Any RRB section controller expected cut off is a prediction; no board publishes one. With last cycle's lines so close to full marks, the useful target is accuracy: attempt every question you are sure of and keep wrong answers very low, because every error costs 0.33 of a mark.
Downloading the cut off from your RRB
- Open the site of your chosen RRB, since results are posted board by board.
- Look under the section controller or CEN 04/2025 notices for the result and cut off PDFs.
- The cut off PDF shows one row of marks by community and PwBD group; the result PDF lists shortlisted roll numbers in ascending order, not by merit.
- Your own score card is released through the same board, usually for a limited window, so save it when it opens.
For other railway posts, see the railway exams hub or compare with the RRB NTPC cut off.
Frequently asked questions
What was the UR line in the section controller CBT?
Under CEN 04/2025 the UR CBT line for the CBAT ranged from 91.67 at Bhubaneswar to 98.35 at Chandigarh, out of 100. Most boards closed between about 93 and 97.
Is any RRB section controller previous year cut off available?
CEN 04/2025 is the only recent open recruitment for this post we could trace, so its CBT lines serve as the RRB section controller last year cut off and the best guide you have. If you see older figures labelled section controller, check which notice they come from.
Why is the section controller cut off so high?
There were only 368 posts split among 21 boards, so each board had very few seats for a large field. The paper is also purely on maths, reasoning and mental ability, where well prepared candidates score close to full marks.
Does the CBT cut off decide final selection?
No. It only decides who sits the CBAT. Final merit combines 70 percent of the CBT score with 30 percent of the CBAT score, and anyone short of 42 in any CBAT battery is left out of the ranking.
Do all boards share a single line?
Each board fills only its own posts from its own applicants, so every RRB publishes separate figures for each community. The UR gap between the lowest and highest board was almost seven marks.
What score should I target in the next section controller CBT?
Based on the first cycle, a normalised score in the mid 90s would have cleared the UR line at most boards. With fewer posts in the newer notice, aim even higher and focus on accuracy.