Indian Railways deploys one Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) for a maximum of five AC coaches or three sleeper or chair car coaches, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
In a written reply, the minister said the deployment policy is aimed at ensuring efficient ticket checking and passenger assistance while making the best possible use of available manpower across the railway network.
The clarification came in response to a question raised by Congress MP Ravindra Vasantrao Chavan from Nanded, who sought details about the workload of TTEs and whether some staff travel as spare personnel without performing duties on certain Northern Railway services, particularly Train No. 22401/22402 operating between Delhi Sarai Rohilla (DEE) and Udhampur (MCTM).
Coach composition determines TTE deployment
Vaishnaw said the number of TTEs assigned to a train depends on its coach composition under the latest operational guidelines.
“In simple terms, the number of TTEs assigned to a train depends on its coach composition, ensuring efficient use of existing manpower while maintaining adequate ticket-checking and passenger assistance,” the railway minister said.
The minister noted that Indian Railways regularly reviews staff deployment to balance passenger service requirements with manpower availability across different routes.
Railways explains TTE deployment on Delhi–Udhampur trains
Addressing the specific issue of TTE deployment on Train No. 22401/22402, Vaishnaw said the services are staffed by personnel from Jammu Headquarters, which is the nearest headquarters in the direction of train movement.
“The Jammu HQ TTEs who go in 22401 ex DEE up to MCTM come back doing checking in 12472 group up to Jammu and fresh batch moves in 12471 group doing checking up to MCTM and takes 22402 ex MCTM to DEE. Thus, to avoid idle spare movement of the staff, ticket checking duties have been assigned to the staff between Jammu and Udhampur,” Vaishnaw said, according to PTI.
He added that Indian Railways has issued administrative guidelines to zonal railways from time to time to improve manpower utilisation and ensure staff are deployed efficiently while maintaining passenger services.