Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Group ‘A’ Service

The full form of IRTS is Indian Railway Traffic Service. IRTS is one of the eight organised civil services under Group A categorisation. The railway’s department has many divisions under it for its smooth and transparent operation. The transportation department of the Indian railways is handled and managed by the IRTS officers. They hold a major responsible position to bring in valued sources of assets and income to their department.

Aspiring candidate willing to become an IRTS officer needs to clear all three rounds of UPSC Civil Services Exam, i.e. Prelims, Mains and Interview. Based on their performance in the CSE and their merit ranking and personal preferences cited at the time of applying, candidates will be given a chance to serve for the IRTS cadres. In this article, we provide detail information about Indian Railway Traffic Service, including their salary structure, career progression, training offered, job profile, posting, ranks, facilities, and perks of IRTS officer. Please note IRTS exam eligibility criteria, qualification, age limit, syllabus and paper pattern remain the same as of the UPSC Exam.

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Roles and Responsibilities

• Production of transportation regulations.
• Managing the customer relation division of Railways department.
• Railways are concerned with two types of transportation – goods and passengers. The management of goods and services comes under freight operations. Passenger safety, comfort, Customer satisfaction, and delight come under the purview of passenger transportation.
• Resource allocation and efficient utilization of available assets and resources.
• Asset management, calculating stocks in inventory, combining infrastructure services, and gathering productive outputs from various channels and entities.
• Increasing operations in the commercial space. This includes role-based and goal-oriented tasks such as quoting prices, handling sales, taking care of marketing loads, etc.
• Computerisation at every level of railway operations. Ensuring availability of e-ticketing facilities, creating more bandwidth and speed for online booking facilities, and overall up-gradation of Indian railway facilities and dockets.

Training Offered to Probationary IRTS Officers

• The initial foundation course training happens at Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA). This course is common to all candidates who have successfully cleared the civil services exam. Before they are directed further into their posting specific specialised training, this module will teach them the basic and elementary coursework.
• In the next step of training, probationers are directed to the National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) located at Nagpur. They may also be sent to the RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration located at Bhopal optionally.
• Lastly, candidates may also be directed to Dr. Marri Chann Reddy Human Resource Development Institute situated at Hyderabad for further training.
• After the initial lessons on administration and governance, specialised in – house training is offered in the form of the esteemed railway foundation course. This course is imparted to candidates at the National Academy of Indian Railways situated in place of Vadodara.
• The next level of higher strata performance training is provided at the Indian Railway Institute of Transportation Management (IRITM). This institute is situated at Lucknow. In this particular wing of training, students get field exposure and on-job experience. They are taken on various field trips across railway wings, divisions, and activity centers. Training institutes owned by the Railways department are given a visit too in order to provide more jobs detailing to candidates. Workshops, project-specific activities are held for the candidates, and they are taken to various related railway units across the country.
• The candidates are then taken to different kinds of railways project units, including ports and establishments that have an association with the Indian railways to collaboratively educate probationers on the various facets of transportation attached with the basic framework of Indian railways.

Postings after Training

These portfolios are allotted to inducted officers soon after their training. In one of the significant divisions of the railways, officers get posted as either

• Assistant Operations/Commercial Manager
• May receive postings in other PSU’s
• Railway Ministry Units
• Central Staffing Schemes

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Career Prospects

• As a Secretary Level, an IRTS officer manages the traffic department associated with the Railway board. There are separate divisions of allocation here, beginning with commercial operations, traffic systems, computerisation divisions, and management information systems. Tourism and catering is also an inclusive operational wing of this level of officers.
• They can also serve as Directorates of the Traffic Wing, Commercial Operations Wing, Planning Wings, and Passenger Management Units.
• Under the financial commissioner of Railways, they will serve as the economics or statistics in-charge. Here, under this wing grievance redressal systems are handled apart from computerised freight marketing activities.
• In the zonal levels, IRTS officers serve in various important positions such as Chief Operations Manager, Chief Commercial Manager.
• They also hold esteemed positions like Chief Traffic Planning Manager and Chief Claims Officer in other roles.
• The Senior Divisional Operations Manager and Senior Divisional Traffic Manager are basic roles held by IRTS officers at the divisional level.

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Grade and Salary

Below we have provided Indian Railway Traffic Service salary structure in detail.