The Editorial Analysis- A Merger to Better Manage the Indian Railways

A Merger to Better Manage the Indian Railways- Relevance for UPSC Exam

• GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

A Merger to Better Manage the Indian Railways

• A recent Gazette notification regarding the creation of the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) marks a paradigm shift in the management of one of the world’s largest rail networks.

Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)

• Creating Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS): Eight out of 10 Group-A Indian Railway services have been merged to create the IRMS.
• Eight Merged Services into IRMS:
  • Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS),
  • Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS),
  • Indian Railway Accounts Service (IRAS),
  • Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE),
  • Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSS),
  • Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME),
  • Indian Railway Service of Civil Engineers (IRSE) and
  • Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS).
• Application and Conducting IRMS Exams: About four lakh applicants will apply for the IRMS through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
  • UPSC is entrusted with conducting the recruitment exam for IRMS.
• Key Advantages of IRMS
  • Removing Silos: A nearly 8,000 strong cadre of the erstwhile eight services is now merged into one-(IRMS).
• Rationalizing Railways Bureaucracy: this restructuring also aims at rationalizing the top-heavy bureaucracy of the Indian Railways.

KAVACH System of Indian Railways

संपादकीय विश्लेषण: भारतीय रेलवे के बेहतर प्रबंधन हेतु विलय

A Merger to Better Manage the Indian Railways- Way Forward

• Training Existing Railway Officers: Even after the creation of IRMS, around 8000 existing railway officers will be serving in the organization for decades to come.
  • This highlights the importance of training of the existing cadre of officers as they will have to deliver on the ambitious Gati-Shakti projects.
• Importance of Training: The Indian Railways will play a very crucial role in fulfilling India’s aspiration of becoming a $5 trillion economy.
  • Prestigious railway projects such as a network of dedicated freight corridors, high-speed rail corridors, station re-development projects, the induction of Vande Bharat trains, etc. will play a significant role in this.
  • All this will require a massive revamp of the capacity-building ecosystem of the Indian Railways.
• Revamping Training Modules for Newly Recruited IRMS Officers: The merger of services provides an opportunity to redesign the training for newly recruited IRMS officers to make them future-ready.
  • Initial training along with mid-career training programmes may be reoriented.
  • The focus should be to create capacity to manage the verticals of operations and business development, infrastructure development and maintenance, traction and rolling stock, and finance and human resource management.
  • The IRMS training needs to be a designed based on competencies required for different leadership roles.
  • Mission Karmayogi of the Government of India provides for competencies-based postings of officers.
  • The Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) program of the Government of India will be instrumental in shaping the career progression of IRMS officers.

CAG Report on Indian Railways

Conclusion

• Young graduates who will be opting for the IRMS through the civil services examination should be aspirational and agile learners.
• They have the opportunity not only to serve the country’s lifeline but also to turbocharge the engine of the economy.

Bullet Trains: Does India Need Them?

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