Modi government announces big Indian Railways reform! Railway Board restructured; cadres merged; top takeaways

Under the new approved structure, the Railway Board will now consist of 4 members and a chairperson.

Modi government announces big Indian Railways reform! In a big move for Indian Railways, Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet today approved the restructuring of the Railway Board. Under the new approved structure, the Railway Board will now consist of 4 members and a chairperson, a reduction from the present number of 8. The Railway Board will now have Members for Infrastructure, Rolling Stock and Traction, Finance, Operations and Business Development.

The Union Cabinet also approved the merging of railway cadres, which will now be called Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS), Railway Minister Piyush Goyal announced. All eight Group A services of Indian Railways will now be merged into the central service called IRMS. Calling it a historic move, Piyush Goyal said that the decision to merge cadres and restructure the Railway Board was done on functional lines.  “We are modernising the legacy of Indian Railways…this is a huge breakthrough,” Goyal said.

Railway Board restructuring and railway cadre merger as IRMS – Top takeaways

• Departmentalism to end! Smooth working of Indian Railways envisioned; aimed at expediting decision making, creating coherent vision for organisation
• Railway Board no longer organised on departmental lines; to be replaced with leaner structure organised on functional lines
• Railway Board will be headed by the Chairman Railway Board; the CRB will act as the CEO
• IRMS to be implemented for the next recruitment cycle.
• The newly officers will be from engineering and non-engineering disciplines and thet will be posted as per their aptitude and specialisation.

According to the Modi government, the reforms announced today are in continuation with the series of decisions under which the Railway Budget was merged with the Union Budget, GMs and field officers were empowered and competitive operators are being allowed to run trains. The unification of services, that was announced today, was recommended by various committees for reforming Indian Railways. The reforms have been taken by “overwhelming support” of railway officers at the “Parivartan Sangoshthi” held by Indian Railways recently.

Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways, under Modi 2.0 government, is aiming to usher in transformational reforms across the national transporter’s network. One very key aspect of enhancing the infrastructure and passenger experience on Indian Railways involves roping in the private sector. As an experiment, India’s first private train, operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), started operations in October this year. The aim is to eventually invite private operators to run trains on as many as 150 routes on the Indian Railways network.

To facilitate faster movement of passenger trains, Indian Railways is upgrading two major branches of the Golden Quadrilateral; Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata to 160 kmph speed potential. According to the national transporter, the infrastructure upgradation will take 2-3 years and once the projects are complete, passengers will be able to commute between Delhi and Mumbai in 10 hours and Delhi and Kolkata in 12 hours. This upgrade is also aimed at making the network more lucrative for private players to run trains on.