A merger to better manage the Indian Railways 

News: Recently, the government issued a Gazette notification regarding the creation of the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS).

It has been created after merging 8 out of 10 Group-A Indian Railway services, and marks a paradigm shift in the management of one of the world’s largest rail networks.  

What is the significance of this move?

It is one of the biggest bureaucratic transformations in India since Independence, and will improve the governance in Indian railway. At present, Indian railways seem to be governed by the top-heavy bureaucracy. 

It will create job opportunities for lakhs of applicants who apply through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). 

Why were the Indian railway services merged? 

The operation of Indian railways requires a coordinated work for maintaining safety of operations and ensuring the punctuality of trains.  

India is aspiring to become a $5 trillion economy and an economic powerhouse in the near future. The Indian Railways will play a very crucial role in achieving 

A reinvigorated bureaucracy is needed for implementation of various projects like Gati Shakti initiative, a network of dedicated freight corridors, high speed rail corridors, station re-development projects, the induction of Vande Bharat trains on a large scale, and other projects of strategic importance have been launched.  

The adoption of the latest technology and improving the efficiency of logistics operations require new future leaders.  

Way Forward 

The existing cadre of officers (8,000 senior officers of the Indian Railways) need to be imparted with training. They have to work in coordination and not in silos. 

The initial training along with mid-career training programmes may be reoriented for newly recruited IRMS officers.  

The IRMS training needs to be a design based on competencies required for different leadership roles. For example, managing the verticals of operations, business development, infrastructure development and maintenance, traction and rolling stock, and finance and human resource management.  

Mission Karmayogi of the Government of India can be used for mapping domain, function and behaviour-related competencies of the IRMS Officers. Therefore, it can help for competencies-based postings of officers.  

Further, the Integrated Government Online Training (iGOT) programme of the Government of India can be instrumental in shaping the career progression of the IRMS officers. 

Source: The post is based on an article “A merger to better manage the Indian Railways” published in The Hindu on 13th April 2022.