PTO - Preferential Traffic Order 2026-27

PTO - Preferential Traffic Order   

 

• Source: The PTO General Order No. 100  (for allotment of Wagons) w.e.f 01.04.2026. Unless canceled earlier, it will remain in force up to 31st March 2027  Click for GO No 100 dated 17.03.2026

• Section 70 of the Railways Act, 1989 - First comes first to serve - Basis for Booking and transportation of Goods.  No priority or No preference  

 

• Section 71 of Railway Act, 1989 - Orders are issued by Central Government to Railways Administration from time to time - For giving priority or preference to booking and transportation of particular types of commodities in the interest of the Nation / Public in General or for Industrial Development. 

 

• PTO - Preferential Traffic Order - Published by the Central Govt in Gazette and informed the Railway Administration.  

 

• PTO validity - 1 Year.  

 

• The priority route is decided and Goods are carried by that route only

  

General Instructions:  

•  Block Rake traffic is preferred over Peice-meal Traffic. 

•  Traffic will have preference over other Traffic within the same class of Priority in the following order: 

 

1. Traffic guaranteed under special Schemes 

2. Traffic in rakes loaded from the Good shed of the station having round the clock working

3. Traffic booked from Full rake handling siding having mechanized loading facility.

4. Traffic offered for distance of more than 600 Kms within the same classification  

5. Single Point Block rakes over two-point / multipoint mini rakes  

6. Wednesday & Saturday shall be reserved and notified for allotment of rakes as per the ODR - Date of Registration irrespective of the class of priority.   

7. Monday & Friday will be  nominated two days for according higher priority to traffic covered under Premium Indent Scheme

•  Any Traffic under special orders of the Ministry of Railways (Railway Board) / Zonal Railways 

Priority	Traffic
A	Military Traffic sponsored by MILRAIL and approved by the Railway Board
B	Emergency Relief works (for natural calamities like floods, drought, earthquakes etc)  - Sponsored by an Officer, not below the rank of Dy.Secretary of Central / State Government or by a Non-Government Organisation. All Food grains except quota traffic notified by the Railway Board.  Levy Sugar for PDS - Public Distribution System & other welfare programs sponsored by FCI - Food Corporation of India / State Govts or their agencies approved by the Railway Board. Proposals for sponsorship of any other commodity by a Central Govt agency  will require specific approval of the Railway Board.
C	1	Coal	i) Sponsoring authority is Public Sector Coal - Accepting authority is ED/RM, Kolkata for ER, ECR, SER, SECR & ECoR  ii) Sponsoring authority is Private coal companies - Accepting authority is COM/CFTM of other Zonal Railways iii) Sponsoring authority is Coal Importers - Accepting authority is PCOM/CFTM of respective Zonal Railways
	2	Iron Ore	Sub - Priority	Traffic Type
			C +	From Customer’s own private siding to his own private siding at unloading end of for domestic manufacturer
			C	One end to other end, the Customer is having his own private siding at either end for domestic manufacture
			C -	One end to the other end, the Customer not owned by him at both ends.
	3	Other than 1 & 2	i) Non - refined Edible Salt - For the States of West Bengal, Assam, Sikkim & Tripura  - Sponsored by the respective State Governments .  For the other States  - The Sponsored by Salt Commissioner & Accepted by the Zonal Railways (Amendment 2 to GO.98 dated 02.08.2024) ii) Common Salt to approved iodization plants - For the States of West Bengal, Assam, Sikkim & Tripura  - Sponsored by the respective State Governments .  For the other States  - The Sponsored by Salt Commissioner & Accepted by the Zonal Railways (Amendment 2 to GO.98 dated 02.08.2024) iii) Fertilizer - Sponsored by Fertilizer manufacturers / Importers  - Accepted by the Zonal Railways  iv) POL - Petroleum, Oil & Lubricants - Sponsored by Oil companies - Accepted by the Railway Board
D	All other Traffic not included in A, B & C

Key points for MCQ 

1. PTO stands for Preferential Traffic Order 

2. PTO validity - 1 Year   

3. PTO - Issued by Central Govt and published in Gazette

4. No of Priorities under PTO - 4 

5. MIL RAIL - Military wing of the Railways  (Office at Sena Bhawan, Army Hqrs) 

6. Railways Act - Year 1989 (The First act in 1890)

7. PDS stands for Public Distribution System 

8. RMS stands for Raw Material for Steel plants 

9. POL stands for Petroleum, Oil, & Lubricants 

10. ED/RM - Executive Director Rail Movement

11. SCO stands for Salt Commissioner Organization - Hqrs - Jaipur

12. Salt Commissioner is working under DPIIT 

13. DPIIT stands for Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (Ministry of Commerce & Industry)

14. Wednesday and Saturday are fixed for allotment of Rakes as per the date of registration, irrespective of the class of priority. 

15. Monday and Friday will be nominated two days for higher priority to traffic covered under Premium Indent Scheme.

*****

Viva Voce

 

Viva Voce - Material                          

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Viva Voce Preparation Course for Group ‘B’ Promotion Exams

This course is specially designed for Railway employees preparing for Group ‘B’ Promotion Examinations, with focused guidance on the Viva Voce / Interview stage.

The course helps candidates understand what Viva Voce means, how to face the interview confidently, and how to prepare important examination-oriented topics in a systematic manner.

Course Contents

✅ What is Viva Voce and how to face it effectively

✅ Likely topics generally asked in Viva Voce

✅ Frequently Asked Questions with answers

✅ Master Circular No. 68 – LDCE provisions

✅ Viva Voce in 70% Selection

✅ How to calculate APAR marks

✅ Special Attributes in APAR and their importance in assessment

✅ Practical guidance for presentation, confidence, and answering style

Useful For

This course is useful for candidates appearing in Group ‘B’ LDCE and 70% Selection, especially those who want to improve their confidence, understand the interview process, and prepare important rule-based and practical questions.

Course Duration: 1 Month

Course Fee: ₹50 only

Important Note:
Download option is not available. Course material can be accessed only through the course platform.

Appendix3 Academy

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ARP - Advance Reservation Period

 

ARP - Advance Reservation Period 

Sources: 

1. click for Commercial Circular 11 of 2015 

2. Click for Commercial Circular 10 of 2024

Features of New ARP

• ARP stands for Advance Reservation Period (of Trains in Indian Railways)

• New ARP policy -   w.e.f 01.11.2024 

• Time limit for ARP - 60 days (reduced from 120 days which was effective from 01.04.2015) 

• ARP is excluding date of journey 

• Bookings made up to 31.10.2024 under the current ARP of 120 days will remain valid. 

• Cancellations of bookings beyond the ARP of 60 days will still be permitted.

• No change for certain day-time express trains like Taj express, Gomti express, etc., - shorter ARP (30 days etc). Shorter ARP for such trains is mainly to accommodate daily commuters and tourists who usually plan shorter trips, unlike long-distance trains which require longer advance booking windows.

• Authority:  The Railway Board periodically reviews and issues specific circulars or notifications detailing ARP changes for such trains.

• FTQ (Foreign Tourist Quota) in certain premium trains like Rajdhani Express - 365 day limit of ARP - continued as usual.

• This long ARP is provided to encourage international tourism and accommodate the planning needs of foreign tourists, who often organise trips months in advance.

• Only foreign nationals and NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) with valid passports can avail of the FTQ.

Rationale of ARP 60 Days: 

• To promote genuine passengers and help the Railway Board to improve the visibility of genuine demand for rail travel in India. 

• It was noticed that about 21% of reservations done for 61 to 120 day periods were getting cancelled.

• Also noticed that about 5% of passengers were neither cancelling their tickets nor were they undertaking the journey. 

• The New ARP of 60 days will help Indian Railways in better planning of special trains during peak seasons. 

• With this shorter ARP of 60 days, Passengers will now once again have better clarity in their travel plans, reducing the current 21% cancellation rate.   

• Reduces the chances of ticket hoarding, making more tickets available for genuine passengers.  

• 1995 to 1998 Period -  The ARP is as low as 30 days only 

Key Points: 

1. ARP stands for Advance Reservation Period 

2. New ARP - 60 days 

3. New ARP effective from 01.11.2024

4. New ARP - Authority is Commercial Circular 10 of 2024

5. FTQ stands for Foreign Tourist Quota

6. ARP for FTQ is 365 days

7. ARP for certain day time trains like Gomti express, Taj express - 30 days or as decided by the Indian Railways from time to time.  

Deleted Questions Procedure in CBT conducted by NAIR for LDCE and 70% Selection Examinations

 

Deleted Questions Procedure in CBT 

Source: Railway Board Letter No.  E(GP)2022/2/4 dated 26.10.2022  (RBE No.134/2022) Click for download  and dated 28.11.2022 Click for download

SN	Example	Applicable / Not Applicable	Final Score calculation
1	Answered 150 questions or less than 150 questions, but the deleted question is not one of the attempted question	Not Applicable	Out of 150
2	Answered 150 questions and 5 questions of these have been deleted	Applicable	Out of 145 (recalculated out of 150)
3	Attempted 130 questions (out of required 150 questions) and 2 questions of 130 questions have been deleted	Applicable	Out of 148 (recalculated out of 150)

ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES

SN 1 - Answered 150 questions or less than 150 questions, but the deleted question is not one of the attempted questions :  

Candidate A answered 140 Questions. Out of  140 questions, 120 are Correct  and 20 are incorrect.  His score is as follows.

	No. of Questions	Marks
Correct answers	120 x 1	120
Incorrect answers	20 x ⅓	Minus 6.67
Net Marks		113.33

Net score:  113.33 out of 150

SN 2 - Answered 150 questions and 5 questions of these have been deleted   :  

Candidate B answered 150 Questions. Out of  150 questions, 141 are Correct,4 are incorrect and 5 are deleted  His score is as follows.

	No. of Questions	Marks
Correct answers	141 x 1	141
Incorrect answers	4 x ⅓	Minus 1.33
Net Marks		139.67

Provisional Score:  139.67 out of 145 

Now recalculate the same for out of 150

145      —----------  139.67 

150     —------------   ?

= 150 / 145 x 139.67  = 113.45

So Net Score = 144.49 out of 150 

SN 3 - Attempted 130 questions (out of required 150 questions) and 2 questions of 130 questions have been deleted   :  

Candidate C answered 130 Questions. Out of  130 questions, 100 are Correct,28 are incorrect and 2 are deleted  His score is as follows.

	No. of Questions	Marks
Correct answers	100 x 1	100
Incorrect answers	28 x ⅓	Minus 9.33
Net Marks		90.67

Provisional Score:  90.67 out of 148 

Now recalculate the same for out of 150

148      —----------  90.67 

150     —------------   ?

= 150 / 148 x 90.67  = 113.45

So Net Score = 91.90 out of 150 

Disclaimer:  

• Some questions in the CBT for LDCE conducted on 20 November 2022 are deleted by the Railway Board . 

• The above write up just throws light on the Railway Board’s Policy of deleted questions.  The blogger tried to explain in simple manner the Railway Board’s policy regarding the same.

• The blogger is not responsible for the mistakes or discrepancies in the above calculations or method of calculation if any.

• The candidates need to go through the Railway Board letters cited above (hyperlinks provided for download) and calculate their score accordingly. 

Note: Any mistakes in the above calculations may please be brought to the notice of the blogger for correction. Thank you

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