Description :
The Indian Railway Traffic Service
(IRTS) is an organized Group 'A' service (cadre) of the Government of India.
The officers of this service are responsible for managing the
Transportation- Operations and Commercial wings - of the Indian Railways
Recruitment &
Training
The direct recruitment to the cadre is done
through the Civil Services Examination. As on 01.07.2004, the sanctioned
strength of IRTS was 1122. The sanctioned strength of IRTS has decreased
since cadre restructuring was undertaken in January-February 2006.At present
cadre strength of IRTS is around 830.
After selection IRTS probationers undergo
general foundation at LBSNAA Mussorie.After that they go for Railway
Foundation Course at RSC Baroda.Further specialized training for the
probationers is imparted at the Indian Railway Institute of Transport
Management (IRITM) at Lucknow. IRITM also undertakes courses for middle and
senior-level officers.
Role and
Function
Indian Railway Traffic Officer is the
public interface of railways. There are two main streams of Traffic
Department viz, operations and commercial where these officers are posted.
The role of an IRTS officer in the operating department is that of ensuring
smooth and fast transportation of freight and passengers .He/She ensures
optimum utilization of assets maximazing output with least inputs. This is
achieved by coordinating with service departments looking after various
assets of railways like track, wagons , engines, signal etc. He/She then
combines the outputs of the various departments maintaining the assets -
rolling stock and fixed infrastructure to produce a service output-
passenger or freight.
In the commercial department, an IRTS
officer is connected with sale, pricing (including discounts) of passenger
and freight traffic. The information technology requirement of passenger
ticketing is also managed by an IRTS officer in the zonal headquarters in
association with the Centre for Railway Information Systems.
The role changes with where an officer is
placed in the organization - in the division ( the operational level), the
zone (tactical level) or the railway board (strategic level).
Organization
At the Railway Board level, the traffic
department is headed by Member(Traffic), who is a secretary level officer.
He is assisted by Additional Members/ Advisors who are of the rank of
additional secretary to the Government of India. At present, there is an
additional member /advisor, each for the commercial, traffic, safety,
computerization and information systems, infrastructure, tourism and
catering wings of the traffic department. Within each wing, there are
directorates which are headed by an Executive Director, a joint-secretary
rank officer. Some of the directorates are traffic, commercial(rates),
planning, coaching, passenger marketing, statistics and economics (under
Financial commissioner), freight marketing, public grievances,
computerization and information systems, tourism and catering.
At the zonal level, the operating and
commercial departments are headed by IRTS officers - Chief Operations
Manager(COM) and Chief Commercial Manager(CCM). They are of the rank of
additional-secretary/joint-secretary to the government of India. COM is
normally assisted by a team of joint-secretary rank officers, viz., Chief
Freight Transportation Manager(CFTM), Chief Passenger Transportation
Manager(CPTM) and Chief Traffic Planning Manager(CPTM). Similarly, CCM is
assisted by Chief Commercial Manager (Freight Marketing), Chief Commercial
Manager (Passenger Marketing), Chief Commercial Manager (Passenger Services)
and Chief Claims Officer. They are in turn assisted by
Deputy-secretary/Director grade officers -Dy COM, Dy CCM, Dy CCO.
At the divisional level, the operating and
commercial departments are headed by IRTS officers - Senior Divisional
Operations Manager(Sr. DOM) and Senior Divisional Commercial Manager(Sr.
DCM). In a large division, Sr. DOM/Sr. DCM would be supervising over 2000
employees. They are link-pins interacting with customers on a day to day
basis and zonal headquarters. Sr. DOM/Sr. DCM are cadre posts in the
deputy-secretary/ director grade of IRTS. Each Sr. DOM/Sr. DCM is assisted
by DOM/DCM/Assistant Operations Manager(AOM)/Assistant Commercial
Manager(ACM)of the rank of under-secretary. An IRTS direct recruit officer's
first posting would be as an AOM or ACM in the division. Most of the
officers in the DOM/DCM/AOM/ACM grade would be from the Group 'B' cadre of
the traffic department. Besides these there are several public sector units
and societies where IRTS officers play pivotal role viz,
[CRIS] - Center for Railway
Information System where software for the specific use of Indian Railways
are developed and maintained. It is responsible for development of two of
most used software : UTS, PRS and FOIS (a transportation vertical)-
Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS), Passenger Reservation System(PRS) which
takes care of ticketing of railway passengers & Freight Operation
Information System (FOIS)which captures all activities related to freight
operations and this is utilized by Indian Railways for planning and
monitoring freight operations. |
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AKHAND PRATAP SINGH
