The most important task under the new Indian Railway Management Service is to train our future leaders.
The most important task under the new Indian Railway Management Service is to train our future leaders.
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. Eight out of 10 Group-A Indian Railway services have been merged to form IRMS. They are: 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 Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), Indian Railway Service of Civil Engineers (IRSE) and Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS).
through UPSC
This is one of the biggest bureaucratic changes in India since independence. The nearly 8,000 strong cadre of the erstwhile eight services has now been merged into one.
Apart from removing the silos, this restructuring also aims to rationalize the top-heavy bureaucracy of the Indian Railways. Rather than debating the decision to create an IRMS, it is worth discussing what lies ahead for future IRMS applicants. Around four lakh applicants will apply for IRMS through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC); It is important to find out what the job demands for the next 30-year years of their career and whether they have the right qualifications for the job-demanding role.
coordinated work
A typical day for an Indian Railway officer (in a field posting) starts at 6 am; There are also control office calls at odd hours in the night. For a railway officer, every day of the year is practically a working day, and he has to prove his worth every single day. Maintaining the safety of operations and ensuring punctuality of trains requires a wide range of skills, from engineering to coordination. Adoption of the latest technology and improving the efficiency of logistics operations requires constant updating of knowledge. Railway officer job is not for those who are looking for a fixed hourly work profile.
The most important task ahead is to train the future leaders of India’s public transporter in the country’s rapidly growing logistics sector. The fact is that even after the creation of IRMS, the 8,000-strong (already serving) officers of the Indian Railways would need to work in coordination and not in silos, as they would work in the organization for decades to come. Though UPSC will recruit a few hundred IRMS officers every year from now on, their numbers will remain very less as compared to the already serving officers for a long time to come. This highlights the importance of training the existing cadre of officers as they will have to complete the ambitious Gati-Shakti projects.
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The task of training such a dynamic talent pool assumes significance in view of India’s aspirations to become a $5 trillion economy and economic superpower in the near future. Indian Railways will play a very important role in achieving key objectives with its prestigious projects like network of dedicated freight corridors, high speed rail corridors, station redevelopment projects, induction of Vande Bharat trains on a large scale, and others. Projects of strategic importance. This will require massive reforms in the capacity building ecosystem of Indian Railways.
revamped training opportunity
The merger of services provides an opportunity to redesign the training to make the newly recruited IRMS officers future ready. Early training can be re-oriented with mid-career training programmes. The focus should be on building the ability to manage the verticals of operations and business development, infrastructure development and maintenance, traction and rolling stock, and finance and human resource management.
IRMS training needs to be designed based on the competencies required for various leadership roles. There is a provision for merit based posting of officers in Mission Karmayogi of Government of India. Accordingly, domain, task and behavioral competencies will need to be mapped for IRMS. The Integrated Government Online Training (IGOT) program of the Government of India will be instrumental in shaping the career progression of IRMS officers.
Future IRMS officers must be prepared to face the challenges of working in an organization that is involved in round the clock and year round operations, which has substantial social obligations to fulfill and, at the same time, which has earned itself Will have to do Leading the transformation of a one million-plus workforce to meet the needs of speed power goals is no easy task. Young graduates who will get selected for IRMS through Civil Services Examination must be aspiring and agile learners. They have the opportunity to not only serve the lifeline of the country but also turbocharge the economy engine.
Rajesh Gupta is the Director (Skill Development, Labor and Employment), NITI Aayog. Dr Kamlesh Gosai is the Deputy Director General in the National Academy of Indian Railways. Views expressed are personal