Union Minister Piyush Goyal has announced on Thursday that the Indian Railways has almost ''doubled' the number of “vacancies” from 26,000 to 60,000. 

“Government has more than doubled the vacancies for assistant loco pilot and technician posts from 26,502 to 60,000, ensuring more jobs in Railways,” Piyush Goyal said in a tweet.

This has come as a big relief to nearly 48 lakh candidates who have applied for the first set of computer-based tests for the 26,502 vacancies of Assistant Loco Pilots (ALP) and technicians, which will be held on August 9.

The Ministry of Railways had earlier announced the recruitment for ALP and Technicians for 26502 posts in February 2018. In response to that, around 47.56 lakh candidates had applied for the advertised posts.

''The notified vacancies of 26,502 for the posts of ALP and Technicians are likely to be increased substantially to about 60,000 vacancies,'' the Ministry of Railways said in a press release.

The ministry further stated that maximum care has been taken to allocate centers to the candidates in their own or nearby cities.