Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS): Restructuring of Railway Board

With the view to centralize the railway system and end departmentalism in the transport giant, the Indian Railways has decided to merge eight railways-related wings into one and form a separate wing called the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS). The reform was passed on by the union cabinet on Tuesday 24th December’19. There’re two departments allotted with the duty of recruitment in this new division. The two authorities are Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and department of personnel and training (DoPT). The newly recruited officers will come from Engineering and non-Engineering disciplines.

Reasons to implement Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)
Singe ages, Indian Railways Service has witnessed multiple updates in its operations. Various measures have been taken in its infrastructural implementation like train service, availability of fresh food in train, ticketing revolution etc. In 2020, a revolutionary change is about to occur as the transport giant has emerged with a new wing called the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS). Here’re some reasons why there was a need of such new wing in the Railways.

Eradicate Departmentalism:
Decentralization of Indian Railways has led to formation of infinite departments in every zone. Due to heavy departmentalism, high delay in operational work was spotted leading to inefficiency in decision making.
Unification of Group A services: The merger of eight railway wings into one will unify the services into one, thus controlling the cycle of assets and resources. Also, the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) will promote rational decision making.

“This will end the culture of working in ‘silos’ and mark the beginning of a new and unified railway with a coherent vision for the future,” the government said in statement.
Railway minister Piyush Goyal said there will be some “outside talent”, independent members, and comprising experts with over 30 years of experience, helping the Board to set a “strategic direction”

Objectives of Implementing Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)

• Railways has an ambitious programme to modernise and provide the highest standards of safety, speed and services to the passengers with a proposed investment of Rs. 50 lakh crore over the next 12 years.
• To meet next level challenges and deal with various existing difficulties there was a need to take this step.
  Create a coherent vision for organisation and promote rational decision making.
• An alternate Mechanism to be appointed by Cabinet in order to ensure fairness and transparency in the work. The process shall be completed within a year.
• Railway board will no longer be organised on departmental lines, and replaced with a leaner structure organised on functional lines.

The structural implementation of Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) is expected to be completed within a year