Tourism
The rail tourism business — tourist train products, packages and the travel offering that carries Indian Railways beyond scheduled services.
Indian Railway Traffic Service · 1999 Batch
RahulHimalian
B.Tech. Electrical Engineering IRTS 26+ Years of Service
A career railway officer whose work sits at the meeting point of engineering precision and public service — from operating and commercial charges on the zonal railways to the leadership of India’s largest rail-linked service enterprise.
Current Charge
Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC
Additional charge, with effect from 20 July 2026
Board Position
Director (Tourism & Marketing)
Whole-Time Functional Director since 16 February 2024
Service
Indian Railway Traffic Service
1999 examination batch
Qualification
B.Tech. (Electrical Engineering)
NIT Hamirpur, Gold Medallist · M.Tech., IIT Delhi
Shri Rahul Himalian at IRCTC, the Schedule ‘A’ Navratna enterprise under the Ministry of Railways where he holds the additional charge of Chairman & Managing Director.
In office · 20.07.2026- Service Batch 1999
- Years of Experience 26+
- M.Tech. CGPA, IIT Delhi 10.00
- Departments Led 06
01 Executive Introduction
Railways are built on precision. So is the service that runs them.
Rahul Himalian is a senior officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service from the 1999 examination batch, with more than twenty-six years of experience across Indian Railways and the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation.
He trained as an electrical engineer — graduating with a gold medal from NIT Hamirpur and completing post-graduate engineering at IIT Delhi with a perfect 10.00 CGPA and the President’s Gold Medal for Best All-Round Student — before entering the railway traffic service, where he has held operating and commercial charges on the Western Railway and the South Eastern Railway.
Since February 2024 he has served as a whole-time functional director on the IRCTC Board as Director (Tourism & Marketing), and from 20 July 2026 he holds the additional charge of Chairman & Managing Director of the corporation.
02 Professional Snapshot
The record, stated plainly
Every entry below is drawn from IRCTC’s official leadership listing and from reported public announcements. Where a date has not been publicly stated, none is given.
Name
Shri Rahul Himalian
Service
Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS)
1999 examination batch — one of the organised Group A services of Indian Railways, responsible for traffic transportation, commercial operations and freight and passenger business.
Qualification
B.Tech., Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur — Gold Medallist. Post-graduate engineering (M.Tech.) from IIT Delhi with a 10.00 CGPA and the President’s Gold Medal for Best All-Round Student.
Schooling
The Lawrence School, Sanawar
Head Boy and Best All-Round Student.
Zonal Service
Western Railway · South Eastern Railway
Operating and commercial charges as a traffic service officer.
Board Role
Director (Tourism & Marketing), IRCTC
Whole-time functional director on the Board since 16 February 2024.
Current Charge
Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC — additional charge
With effect from 20 July 2026, in addition to his existing responsibilities as Director (Tourism & Marketing).
Subsidiary
Chairman, IRCTC Payments Limited
A wholly owned subsidiary of IRCTC Limited.
Portfolio
Six departments
Tourism · Information Technology · Human Resource Development · Infrastructure · Administration · Rajbhasha.
03 Career Journey
A route with named stations
The sequence below follows the publicly documented progression of his service. Dated stations carry a confirmed public date; the remaining stages are shown in documented order without an invented year.
Full career timeline-
Indian Railway Traffic Service
Enters the IRTS as an officer of the 1999 examination batch, beginning a career in the traffic, transportation and commercial arm of Indian Railways.
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Operating and commercial charges
Holds posts in the operating and commercial departments of the Western Railway and the South Eastern Railway — the field grounding of a traffic officer in train running, terminal working and revenue business.
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Additional General Manager, Tourism
A five-year deputation to IRCTC in its tourism vertical — his first extended engagement with the corporation’s rail tourism business.
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Group General Manager, West Zone
Zonal command of IRCTC’s West Zone from Mumbai, carrying regional responsibility across the corporation’s business lines.
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Director (Tourism & Marketing)
Appointed a whole-time functional director on the Board of IRCTC, leading Tourism, Information Technology, Human Resource Development, Infrastructure, Administration and Rajbhasha.
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Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC
Assumes the additional charge of Chairman & Managing Director of IRCTC, following the resignation of Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain, while continuing as Director (Tourism & Marketing).
04 Railway Leadership
Scroll the diagram sideways →
Schematic: the four reported business verticals of IRCTC, the Schedule ‘A’ Navratna enterprise he now heads in addition to his board portfolio.
Leading a Navratna enterprise of the Ministry of Railways
IRCTC is a Schedule ‘A’ Navratna Central Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Railways. It is the arm of Indian Railways through which the travelling public most often meets the system directly — the ticketing platform, the food on board, the packaged drinking water, and the tourist trains.
Rahul Himalian’s career has moved along that same line. He came to the corporation first as Additional General Manager for Tourism, returned as Group General Manager of the West Zone at Mumbai, and joined its Board in February 2024. Since 20 July 2026 he has held the additional charge of Chairman & Managing Director.
Twenty-six years of service, from zonal operating charges to the leadership of the corporation’s Board.
Indian Railway Traffic Service · 1999 batch05 Leadership & Responsibilities
Six departments, one portfolio
As Director (Tourism & Marketing) he provides leadership to the following departments of IRCTC, as listed in the corporation’s public announcements.
Information Technology
The digital platform layer of the corporation, including the systems through which the public transacts with Indian Railways.
Human Resource Development
People, capability and organisational development across the corporation’s zones and units.
Infrastructure
The physical estate behind the service — base kitchens, plants, outlets and operating facilities.
Administration
Corporate administration and the internal governance functions that hold the enterprise together.
Rajbhasha
Official language implementation — a statutory responsibility carried by every central public sector enterprise.
06 Milestones
Documented distinctions
Perfect CGPA, IIT Delhi
Post-graduate engineering completed at the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with a cumulative grade point average of 10.00.
Source: IRCTC official leadership listingGold Medallist, NIT Hamirpur
Graduated in Electrical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur, as gold medallist of his cohort.
Source: IRCTC official leadership listingBest All-Round Student, IIT Delhi
Awarded the President’s Gold Medal for Best All-Round Student during his post-graduate studies at IIT Delhi.
Source: IRCTC official leadership listingYears in Indian Railways and IRCTC
Over twenty-six years of service spanning zonal railway operating and commercial charges and three engagements with IRCTC.
Source: reported public announcements, July 202607 Media & Public Information
Reported in the public record
A selection of publicly reported items. Each links to its original source so that the record can be checked independently.
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20 Aug 2026 Business Standard / ANI
IRCTC CMD inspects Mumbai’s catering network
A detailed inspection of catering operations in Mumbai — travelling on the Ahmedabad–Mumbai Tejas Express to speak with passengers directly, followed by checks at the Jan Aahar and Food Plaza outlets at Mumbai Central and the base kitchens at Kurla and Chembur.
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21 Jul 2026 Metro Vaartha
Assumes additional charge as Chairman & Managing Director, IRCTC
Reported announcement of the assumption of additional charge as CMD with effect from 20 July 2026, alongside a summary of his service record and board portfolio.
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08 Aug 2025 afaqs!
‘Magazines on the Move’ launched at the 14th Indian Magazine Congress
As Director (Tourism & Marketing), launches an onboard magazine initiative with the Association of Indian Magazines at The Imperial, New Delhi, beginning with Tejas Express services.
08 Documents & Sources
Everything here can be traced back
No document library is published on this site, because no documents have been released for publication here. What is provided instead is a reference index: every factual claim on these pages is listed against the public source it came from — IRCTC’s own leadership listing, and reported news coverage.
09 Contact
Professional enquiries
Correspondence relating to this profile is handled by the contact below. No other channel is published on this site.
- ContactMr. Digant Sharma
- Phone+91 97699 99960
- Emailim@digantsharma.com