Indian Railway Training: Institutes, Programs and Courses

 Efficiency And Knowledge Based Services Bettered With Railway Training For Efficiency

Railway system in India is placed as the 3rd largest in the entire world, which in itself is a matter to comprehend. Stretching from the state of Jammu & Kashmir in the north to the tip of Kanyakumari in the south, and from Gujarat in the west to the North Eastern States in the east, train lines and stations are found in almost every place of the country. To run such a vast organization, is not an easy responsibility but the Indian Railway has been doing it efficiently since the time of independence. 

The greatest credit of the efficient management of the Indian Railway is in the hands of the manpower which works efficiently in respective positions. Due to the dual control exerted on the individual zones, this has been possible. The duality is because of the operational control at the Zonal level and the functional policy and guidance from the Railway Board.

Railway Zones and Divisions:  There are 17 zones found in the country into which the whole of the Indian Railway has been divided, and each zone is having its headquarters and separate divisions. This has led to the formation of 67 divisions in total in the country, each one headed by the Divisional Railway Manager. Each division has its own guidelines for the line personnel and staff organizations which are involved in their respective functions. Each function is having its specialization in relation to the operation and maintenance of the Railway. Officer ranked personnel head the functional areas while the lower ranked technical and non technical people manager the respective affairs. The recruitment is done separately for the officer positions and the Group D and C positions in the Technical and Non Technical levels.

Need for training - It is highly unlikely that the people, who are recruited into the Indian Railways in different departments and positions, might not be having specific training in the respective divisions. The work profile in Railways can be highly specific and would require a skill and technical knowledge of the operations at different levels. New recruits, who have recently passed out from their studies would then be clueless as to the execution of their jobs. In order to provide them a firsthand experience in their field of work, the Indian Railway has set up a variety of Institutes and Training Centers throughout the country.

•  A person, joining the service with Indian Railways, needs to get acquainted with any new modality of operations or get to learn the higher level techniques if due for promotion or for even new posting. These would be labelled under the refresher courses, which the Railway staffs undergo from time to time. To upgrade their skills and services for the benefit of the Railways and thereby the Indian citizens, the Railway training has been highly strengthened and streamlined. 
• The Indian Railways is one of the important infrastructures of the country with a workforce of about 1.6 million. In order to look after the operational efficiency, Maximilian the productivity of the existing assets and resources, and bringing about important policy reforms, the human resource has to be constantly updated and educated. In order to keep the employees efficient, the Indian Railways takes up training programs from time to time.

Institutes and Programs

• There are about 6 lakhs Group D staff, 9 lakhs of Group C staff, while the Group A and B staff is about 15,000 with 3000 medical staff, working in the Indian Railways.
• The Non Gazetted Staff are trained at different levels of the system through Technical / Divisional / Zonal Training Centres and schools in the zones itself. For this purpose there are 291 training centres all over the country.
• For the purpose of training of the officers in Group A, there are 6 centralised training institutes

 Institutes

•  Railway Staff College in Vadodara – This is the apex Training Institute for Officers of all departments starting from General and Accounts, Personnel, Stores, Traffic, Medical, etc, which deals with the Managerial topics in the respective fields.
•  Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering in Pune for Civil Engineers – It provides training to entry level Civil Engineers through the Indian Railway Service of Engineering cadre.
•  Indian Railway Institute of Signal and Telecommunications Engineering in Secunderabad for Engineers of S & T department – It is responsible for the training of Indian Railways’ Supervisors and Officers in Railway Signalling and Telecommunication.
•  Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering in Jamalpur in Munger District of Bihar – It trains the supervisors and officers of the Mechanical Engineering department. The officers selected from Indian Railway Service for Mechanical Engineers are also trained here, apart from a 4 year course for Special Class Apprentices.
• Indian Railway Institute of Electrical Engineers in Nasik – It caters to the training of newly appointed officers through the IRSEE through the Indian Engineering Services Exam by UPSC.
• PF Academy in Lucknow for Railway Protection Force Officers 

Training Modality

• Apart from the officer training modules, the other staff of the Indian Railways are also trained in the 291 training centres. 
• Every year about 1 Lakh employees are sent for undergoing Refreshers Courses, so that about 4 to 4.5 Lakh employees are eligible for Refreshers Courses.
• The training schedule of the Railway employees includes classroom teaching, involving technical aspects and rules of working, on job training and sometimes practical training depending on the category of employee and the future promotion.
• Junior Engineers and Senior Engineers in Signal are given 52 weeks training for promotional purposes. Supervisory posts require the recruits to get 30 hours per week of training. 

Railway Training Outcome 

Regular training is imparted by the Railways for updating the candidates who are newly joining the services and even those who are already in jobs. From time to time, Indian Railways brings about newer modalities of functioning in the field of technology for better communication and transportation for convenience of the passengers. These techniques are to be known by those working at the ground level and in the fields and also by the supervisors and officers who are monitoring these works.

With the huge magnitude of recruitment that is being done by the Indian Railways, to manage its vast network, it has taken up the responsibility up its sleeve to also provide the technical know how to its employees, for efficient and error free management of the largest employer of the country.