Railways Ministry sticks with UPSC CSE for IRMS recruitments instead of separate exam

New Delhi: The Railways Ministry has decided to drop its earlier plans of conducting a separate examination for Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) recruits in 2023 and will instead go ahead with Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Exams, according to an announcement on Thursday.

"Ministry of Railways, in consultation with UPSC and DoPT, has decided that recruitment to Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) will be done through the Civil Services Examination to be conducted by the UPSC for the year 2023," said the Ministry in an official statement.

While the reasons for the same are not known, according to a report by PTI sources have pointed out the fact that the specially designed IRMS exams would have catered mainly to engineering background candidates which could have irked the non-engineering cadre.

The Ministry announced last year that a two-tier exam, Indian Railways Management Service Examination or IRMSE – will be conducted to select personnel for railways’ management service.

The Ministry would have gone ahead with the exam first with a Preliminary Screening Examination, followed by a Main Written Examination and Interview.