Indian Railway Traffic Service - Managing Transportation of Indian Railways

The Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) is one of the Group ‘A’ services options, available for candidates who have successfully cleared the UPSC Civil Services Exam. Personnel from this cadre primarily manages the transportation department of the Indian railways. This is the service responsible for revenue generation in the railways. It is a coveted Group “A” Civil Service. There are two major wings in the traffic service – Operations and Commercial.

It has a cadre strength of around 900.

The article has information on the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) functions, salaries and career prospects.

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Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Roles & Responsibilities

1. Coordinating the production and sale of transportation output.
2. Managing the customer interface of railways.
3. In the operations wing, ensuring smooth and fast transportation of freight and passengers.
4. In the commercial wing, an officer has to deal with the sales, pricing, service and marketing aspects of passenger and freight business.
5. An IRTS officer can also be sent on deputation to other ministries and departments under the Central Staffing Scheme.

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Grades & Salaries

There are 7 different grade levels associated with this Group “A” Civil Service.

Below Table gives a general idea on Grade and payscale associated with IRTS

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Training of Probationers

The probationers undergo training in any of the national training academies namely, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) at Mussoorie, National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT) at Nagpur, Dr Marri Channa Reddy Human Resource Development Institute of Andhra Pradesh at Hyderabad and RCVP Noronha Academy of Administration at Bhopal. After this, they have imparted the Railway Foundation Course at National Academy of Indian Railways, Vadodara. The officers are also given specialised training at the Indian Railway Institute of Transportation Management (IRITM) located in Lucknow. Here, they take field trips to various railway activity centres, workshops and organisations, Centralized Training Institutes of Indian Railways and visits to railway project sites, ports. They also have a Parliamentary attachment and stints at other civil service academies and one IIM.

Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Postings after Training

IRTS officers serve as Operations Officer and Commercial Officer of the Indian Railways transportation department.

After the final induction, IRTS Cadres holds the following posts under different divisions and wings of Indian Railways.

1. Assistant Operations/Commercial Manager
2. May receive postings in other PSU’s
3. Railway Ministry Units
4. Central Staffing Schemes where IRTS officers may be sent on deputation to other ministries.

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Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) – Career prospects

1. As an officer at Secretary Level, the Traffic Department associated with the Railway Board will be managed by the IRTS officers.
2. Serve in the position of Directors in the Traffic, Commercial Operations, Planning Wings and Passenger Management Units.
3. At the Zonal levels, IRTS officers serve in important positions such as Chief Operations Manager, Chief Commercial Manager. The responsibility of the Chief Commercial Manager is to handle marketing and commercial activities whereas the responsibility of Chief Operations Manager is solely handling freight operations.
4. IRTS officers also get opportunities to hold the position of Chief Traffic Planning Manager and Chief Claims Officer.
5. The Senior Divisional Operations Manager and Senior Divisional Traffic Manager are roles held by IRTS officers at Divisional Levels.

The above details would help candidates preparing for UPSC 2023 in setting up their goals.

If you are targeting CSE 2023, apply for the examination after going through the detailed information about the UPSC Online Application.

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