All 8 services to be unified at all levels, says Railways

In a bid to dispel misunderstanding of the government's decision for organisational restructuring in the national transporter, the Railways on Friday said that unification of eight existing services for the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) will be done at all levels.

In a statement, the Railway Ministry said: "Unification of eight existing services of Indian Railways for IRMS will be done at all levels i.e. from Junior Scale to HAG plus."

"However, modalities for unification and assignment of inter-seniority will be decided by Alternative Mechanism. For this, Ministry of Railways and DoPT (Department of Personnel and Training) will together to work out the necessary formula before it is taken up by Alternative Mechanism. It will be ensured that no one will be at a disadvantage," it said.

The ministry's statement came three days after the Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the organisational restructuring of the Railways through the unification of the existing eight Group A services into one central service called the IRMS.

After changes in the railway organisation, the Chairman, along with four members responsible for infrastructure, operations and business development, rolling stock and finance, respectively, will form the Railway Board.

The Chairman shall be the cadre controlling officer responsible for human resource (HR) with assistance from a Director General, HR. Three apex level posts shall be surrendered from the Railway Board and all its remaining posts shall be open to all officers regardless of the service to which they belonged.

The Board will also have some independent non-executive members, who will be highly distinguished professionals with deep knowledge and 30 years of experience, including at the top levels, in the fields of industry, finance, economics and management.

The Railway Ministry also said that 27 posts of General Managers have been upgraded to the apex grade.

"It will be ensured that eligible officers of all the erstwhile services get apex grade post of General Manager," it said, adding that in the cabinet note approved, it has been mentioned that officers of IRMS (constituted by eight services) only will be eligible to become the Functional Members and Chairman or CEO of the Railway Board.

"The number of Independent members will be decided by the government. They will be non-executive members and will attend the Board meetings. They will not be involved in day-to-day functioning of the Railways. Their experience of market and field will help in the strategic planning of Indian Railways," the Ministry said.

The Ministry also said that efforts will be made to complete the unification at the earliest and officers will continue doing the work which they were doing at present.

"Domain knowledge will be taken into consideration while deciding a posting," it said, adding: "Future recruits to IRMS will be made through UPSC (Civil Services) in consultation with Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) and DOPT."

The Railways also pointed out that reforms as suggested by various committees from time to time including Prakash Tandon Committee in 1994 have been largely adopted.

"The decision for unification was taken based on the sentiments and suggestions of all levels of officers during 'Parivartan Sangosthi' held on December 7 and 8, 2019 at New Delhi," the Ministry added.

( With inputs from IANS )