Tourism
The rail tourism business of the corporation, from tourist train products to packaged travel.
Executive
Profile
A career built on engineering training and railway service — set out here strictly against what has been publicly recorded.
01 Professional Overview
Shri Rahul Himalian · Indian Railway Traffic Service, 1999 batch
Twenty-six years between the engineering bench and the railway network
Rahul Himalian is a senior officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service from the 1999 examination batch. Over more than twenty-six years he has worked across two zonal railways and, in three separate engagements, across the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation — the Schedule ‘A’ Navratna enterprise through which Indian Railways delivers ticketing, catering, packaged drinking water and rail tourism.
He is an electrical engineer by training. That grounding — systems, tolerances, load and reliability — sits underneath a service career spent in operating and commercial charges, where the same disciplines apply to timetables, terminals and revenue business rather than to circuits.
Since 16 February 2024 he has been a whole-time functional director on the IRCTC Board as Director (Tourism & Marketing). With effect from 20 July 2026 he additionally holds the charge of Chairman & Managing Director of the corporation.
An officer of the Indian Railway Traffic Service, 1999 batch — with a gold medal in electrical engineering and a perfect post-graduate record.
As listed by IRCTC02 Qualification
Education and academic record
The academic record below is taken from IRCTC’s official leadership listing. Years of study have not been published and are therefore not shown.
School
The Lawrence School, Sanawar
Head Boy and Best All-Round Student.
Graduation
B.Tech., Electrical Engineering — NIT Hamirpur
Graduated as gold medallist from the National Institute of Technology, Hamirpur.
Post-Graduation
M.Tech. — IIT Delhi
Completed with a cumulative grade point average of 10.00, and awarded the President’s Gold Medal for Best All-Round Student.
Service Entry
Indian Railway Traffic Service
1999 examination batch.
03 Service
What the traffic service actually carries.
The Indian Railway Traffic Service is one of the organised Group A services of Indian Railways. Its officers hold the operating and commercial responsibilities of the system: how trains are run and pathed, how terminals and yards work, how freight and passenger business is earned, and how the network responds when conditions change.
It is the branch of the railways closest to both the movement of trains and the revenue that movement generates — which is why traffic officers are frequently drawn into the leadership of the railways’ commercial enterprises.
Rahul Himalian’s zonal service has been on the Western Railway and the South Eastern Railway, in operating and commercial posts.
04 Professional Responsibilities
The current portfolio
As Director (Tourism & Marketing) he provides leadership to six departments of IRCTC. Since 20 July 2026 he additionally carries the overall charge of the corporation as Chairman & Managing Director.
26+Years of Service
1999IRTS Batch
6Departments Led
3Engagements with IRCTC
Information Technology
The digital platform layer through which the public transacts with Indian Railways.
Human Resource Development
People and capability across the corporation’s zones and operating units.
Infrastructure
Base kitchens, plants, outlets and the physical estate behind the service.
Administration
Corporate administration and internal governance functions.
Rajbhasha
Official language implementation, a statutory responsibility of every central public sector enterprise.
05 Public-Service Context
A corporation the public meets every day
IRCTC is where a very large number of people encounter Indian Railways directly — when a ticket is booked, when a meal is served on board, when water is bought on a platform, when a tourist train is taken. Its performance is therefore read by the travelling public as the performance of the railways themselves.
Leadership of such an enterprise is an administrative responsibility before it is a commercial one: standards, accountability and consistency across a network that runs continuously and at national scale.
EnterpriseIRCTC Limited
ClassificationSchedule ‘A’ Navratna CPSE
Administrative MinistryMinistry of Railways, Government of India
Subsidiary ChairedIRCTC Payments LimitedA wholly owned subsidiary of IRCTC Limited.
Note. This is a professional profile website. It is not an official website of the Government of India, the Ministry of Railways, or IRCTC, and it carries no official emblem, seal or endorsement.
06 Beyond the Office
Listed personal pursuits
Creative WritingPursuit
ViolinPursuit
SquashPursuit
Close-up MagicPursuit
As listed on IRCTC’s official leadership page.