Indian Railways is going through a major churning. In recent years, big structural changes have altered methods and scope of operations in the Railways. The archaic and colonial mindset of bureaucracy has also made a drastic shift. This could be due to successive governments’ realisation that the same old system cannot sustain the engine for long. Examples include structural changes in the introduction of innovation and technology to the national transporter.
In the Budget 2022-23, the Ministry of Railways decided to induct 400 Vande Bharat trains in the coming three years. To fulfil that task, the Integral Coach Factory Perambur, Chennai, recently rolled out 75 Vande Bharat trains. Upgrade of railway tracks, automation of signalling systems, deployment of anti-collision devices like Raksha Kavach, End of Train Telemetry (EOTT), doubling and tripling of rail lines, electrification of broad gauge and replacement of Integral Coach Factory (ICF) coaches with Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches have led to increase in maximum speed of few trains to 160 kmph. Though the average speed of passenger and freight trains remains around 55 kmph and 25 kmph, respectively.
The HR reform
The most significant reform in the Indian Railways is the overhaul of top-level human resources, as well as the establishment of a new Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS).
The reconstitution of the Railway Board has made the body lean and thin with only five members based on operational needs — Operations & Business Development; Infrastructure; Finance; and Rolling Stock; along with the CEO & Chairman. Now, officers appointed to occupy the post of the General Managers to head the 18 zones of Indian railways will have to be part of IRMS. The recruitment of the IRMS cadre will be done via the Civil Services Examination conducted by the UPSC. The broad idea is to have one unified Service like the Indian Administrative Service, whose officers in the role of District Magistrates and Secretaries, are overall in charge of the departments. They are assisted by different and sometimes specialised staff and officers from land revenue, engineering, public health departments etc. The erstwhile cadres like Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Railway Service of Signals Engineers (IRSSE), Indian Railway Store Service (IRSS) that saw recruitment through Engineering Services Examination; and Indian railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Account Service (IRAS) and Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS) recruited through civil services Examinations, will see no more direct induction. This is a logical conclusion to attract the best crowd in the Indian Railways for its managerial roles. It is this talent that will form the future leadership of this one-and-half-century old organisation.
The demand for grant in the Budget for FY23 was proposed to be approximately Rs 4.78 lakh crore, out of which around 47 per cent, i.e. Rs 2.25 lakh crore are to be spent on capital outlay. PRS analysis shows that between FY18 and FY23, the CAGR growth in expenditure on Indian Railways is expected to remain around 5.9 percent. By this calculation, the estimated budget in FY 2047-48, when India will celebrate its hundred years of Independence, would be around Rs 20.04 lakh crore. Currently, the capital expenditure on the railways is majorly executed by engineers in concurrence of administrative heads like Divisional Railway Managers (DRMs), General managers (GMs), and the Railway Board. The civil engineering department, led by IRSE, spends roughly 60 per cent of the total capital budget of the railways. The year 2047 will be the time when IRMS recruited through Civil Services Examination would be occupying the key positions. But since the railway will remain one of the capital-intensive, technologically-driven organisations, having an edge on the engineering know-how would be pertinent for these officers. Of course, the railways will be training them in various fields like locomotive engineering and repair, track maintenance, signalling systems and so on but there would also be the need of a good supervisory cadre with specialised engineering degrees.
Currently, Indian Railway recruits supervisory cadres in engineering through Railway Recruitment Board (RRB) for the post of Senior Section Engineers. These cadres are the backbone of all engineering departments and look after the day-to-day maintenance activity. They are usually recruited in Group C level and often get retired as Group B staff. They also form a large part of locomotive workshops, coaching depots, wagon workshops and yards, headed by the directly recruited officers of engineering departments. Since the recruitment through Engineering Services have already stopped, there will be the need to have officers with sound skills to head these verticals.
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The skill intake
Recently, the government amended the Central Universities Act to upgrade National Rail and Transport Institute (NRTI) to Gati Shakti University (under the Ministry of Railways) as one of the central universities. Currently, this institute is providing various undergraduates courses like BBA, B.Sc, and B.Tech in Transport Technology, Rail System and Communication, among others, and postgraduate courses like MBA and M.Sc. The institute is in a nascent stage and the outcomes have not been anywhere near to IITs and NITs that attract high-paying private sector jobs. This is majorly because there are hardly any recruiters for these specialised courses in the market and the availability of a better pool of graduates in other premium institutes also dampens their prospects. The best way forward would be to utilise the Gati Shakti University to produce world-class supervisory staff who would be assisting IRMS officers in their engineering work. The university shall continue to offer other programmes on rail, road, and other pillars of Gati Shakti along with these courses.
Candidates interested in a career as an engineer with Indian Railways may be selected through a competitive entrance examination and trained for three years at the Gati Shakti University in disciplines such as railway-related civil engineering, signals and communication engineering, and mechanical and electrical engineering. Once trained, they may be included in the system at Group B or C level, based on merit and requirements and upon passing some form of induction test. They would form the second line of supervision and may, later on, be made in charge of locomotive workshops, coaching yards, and depots as Group A officers at the level of junior administrative grade (JAG).
An efficient and proficient system is required to propel the engine of growth for the Indian Railways, if it has to remain the lifeline of the nation for centuries to come. Notwithstanding the high growth happening in roadways and waterways, the role of the railways is irreplaceable. The impetus by the government on High-Speed Rail Corporation to run bullet trains, Dedicated Freight Corridors, and net carbon zero by 2030 shows that the Ministry of Railway means business that’s sustainable, viable and affordable. The National Rail Plan Vision 2030, along with other planning exercises, should further emphasise human resource restructuring, because at the end of the day, railwaymen will have a significant role in this Amrit Kaal when India moves toward its hundred years of Independence.
Abhishek Tiwari is IRTS officer in Indian Railways. He tweets @geogian_abhi. Views are personal.