The Cabinet on Tuesday approved organisational restructuring of the Indian Railways. The government described these reforms as historic and believes that these will go a long way in achieving Government’s vision of making Indian Railways the growth engine of India’s Vikas Yatra.
The reforms include unification of the existing eight Group A services of the Railways into a Central Service called Indian Railway Management Service; re-organisation of Railway Board on functional lines headed by CRB with four Members and some Independent Members.
The existing Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) to be renamed as Indian Railway Health Service.
There is a proposal to create a unified Group A’ service called “Indian Railways Management Service” (IRMS) from the next recruitment cycle. Creation of the new service will be done in consultation with DoPT and UPSC to facilitate recruitment in the next recruitment year. Also, the selection for the general management positions shall be through a merit-based system. 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. It will have a Chairman, who will act as ‘Chief Executive Officer (CEO)’ along with 4 Members responsible for Infrastructure, Operations & Business Development, Rolling Stock and Finance respectively. The Chairman shall be the cadre controlling officer responsible for Human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR). 3 Apex level posts shall be surrendered from Railway Board and all the remaining posts of the Railway Board shall be open to all officers regardless of the service to which they belonged.
The Board will also have some independent Members, who will be highly distinguished professionals with deep knowledge and 30 years of experience including at the top levels in industry, finance, economics and management fields. The Independent Members will help Railway Board in setting a strategic direction. The restructured Board will start functioning after approval of the Board taking due care to ensure that officers are posted in the restructured Board or adjusted in the same pay and rank till their retirement.
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