Railway Ticket Collector Career | How to become TC ?: These day young generations are keen in making their own decision and getting independent financially at an early stage of their life. Indian Railways gives this generation the option of a stable job and financial independence; as here the eligibility starts just after 10th standards. Any 10th pass candidate with minimum 50% marks can aspire for the Ticket Collector profile.
Being the fourth largest one in the world, Indian Railways has a huge Recruitment capacity and needs talents at various levels. Every year we could find news flooded with Indian Railways recruitment advertisements of various posts like, in administrative, technical, engineering, operations etc. There are gazetted and non-gazetted posts which come under Group A and B whereas non-gazetted posts under Group C &D. Group A & B comprise senior level officials whereas the junior staffs, like supervisors, clerks, skilled labors and many frontline staffs fall into the Group C&D categories.
Ticket collector or TC is Group C category recruitment of Indian Railways. It is usually known as TTE i.e. Travelling Ticket Examiner or at some places, TTI i.e. Traveling Ticket Inspector. TTE is a frontline profile falls under Group C recruitment of Indian Railways with direct interaction with passengers in order to ensure the train ticket availability with the travelers. Also to check the correct value of the distance traveled by the passenger. The profile includes levying a fine in case anyone one is traveling without a ticket or undervalued ticket. Such practices are still prevailing at few places across the country and are a huge dent in Indian Railways Reservoir. Over 17 million passengers use Indian Railways daily and one can imagine the controlling network has to very strong. Not only this a TTE has the responsibility to take in-charge of a reserved coach, check ticket of the passenger even of the unreserved coach and/ or at the platform, guide them if required, man the Railway inquiry counter; raise alarm and take corrective actions in case of any anomalies. The profile of a TTE requires a lot of patience, discipline, courage, flexibility and presence of mind to handle a situation. Over and above honest determination with hard work yet smart decision-making abilities are the prerequisite of the profile.
RRB the Railways Recruitment Boards are the governing bodies for these recruitments at various state levels. At present, there are 19 RRBs which is controlled by Railway Recruitment Control Board. RRBs publish their Vacancies for various posts with all eligibility criteria, fees, dates, exams procedure etc at their respective states
Eligibility Criteria
The foremost criterion is to be a 10th exam or an equivalent passed with an aggregate of 50% marks from a recognized state or central Board. An intermediate/ 12th pass or even a Graduate can apply for the same however he has to fulfill the age criteria. The age limit for the post is 18-30 years and relaxations are available for SC/ST and the OBC aspirants.
Recruitment Processes
Every year certain vacancies are published in the Employment News by RRB and on Railways official website for various posts. As per the respective Zonal Railways, 33% of these vacancies has to be filled by eligible and selected staffs for promotions from Group D category; 17 % are reserved for merit listed matriculate Group D staffs, eligible for promotion. However, the preconditions for these eligibility of these promotional reservation remains 2 years of vintage in their respective unit. Such promotional recruitment consists of written Test of 85 marks and the rest 15 marks for the Service Record of the individual candidate.
Only the remaining 50 % vacancies are filled by RRB’s direct recruitment procedure. The aspirants have to go through two processes of selection; one, the written Exam and second the Interview. Candidates can apply online for the written test on RRB’s official website or procure the Application form from centers specified for it. For general category a specific fee is payable for the application whereas reserved candidates, physically challenged and Ex- servicemen candidates are exempted from this. The written Exam is a Competitive Entrance Test conducted by RRB on at All India Level and comprises of objective questions with multiple choices. The written Exam questions cover 4 areas
- General Awareness
- General Arithmetic
- Language General Hindi/General English
- Analytical and Quantitative Skills
The written exam results decide whether a candidate will be called for an interview or not. In an interview more of a general awareness and current affair related questions are asked. Moreover, the confidence level is judged with an understanding of the job responsibilities and duties of a Ticket Collector.
After selection, the respective Zonal office conducts a precise training of a month on a fixed stipend. Afterward, a TTE is formally appointed for their specific location.
Pay Scale and Allowance
The pay scale for TTE is Rs. 5200 – Rs.20,200 as per the 6th pay commission. Above this Rs. 1900 is added as a grade pay, making the basic salary as Rs. 7,200. The overall remuneration’s major constituents are Basic, Grade Pay, Dearness Allowances (DA), HRA. The DA is 125% of the Basic, HRA for big cities 30% and for other locations 10%. There are other allowances also like for traveling, night duty, overtime, medical expenses etc. TCs are entitled to PF, gratuity, bonus and other incentives. Apart from these, they get fair concessions or sometimes free traveling which include family too at many occasions.
Career Growth
The career prospect here in terms of internal promotions is limited and comprised of four different senior grade positions by going through normal routes of Railways Promotions Policies for C grade staffs.
- The first comes after TC is a Senior Ticket Collector
- Second is a Head Ticket Collector or Senior Traveling Ticket Examiner
- Third is the Traveling Ticket Inspector/ Conductor
- Fourth and the last one is Chief Ticket Inspector
Besides, there are options of promotions beyond the department also, however, conditions apply for being considered for the responsibility.
Leave a Reply