The Central government has restored the old policy of recruiting the Railway officers via Civil Services Examination (CSE) and the Engineering Services Examination (ESE) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). As per a memorandum issued by Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), the recrutment through UPSC will begin from 2025. In 2023, the Ministry of Railways announced to conduct railway recruitment through Indian Railway Management Service IRMS Exam replacing the recruitment process through UPSC.
In 2019, the cabinet approved the restructuring by merging existing 8 departments of Indian Railways into new services known as "Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS)". From 2023 onwards, Indian Railways and UPSC with UPSC decided to recruit Group-A officers of Indian Railways through a separate examination called Indian Railway Management Service Examination (IRMSE).
"Ministry of Railways, in consultation with UPSC and DoPT, has decided that recruitment to Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) will be done through a specially designed examination (IRMS Examination) to be conducted by the UPSC from the year 2023 onwards," the official statement issed by government in 2023 reads.
However, the Indian Railways had to take a U-Turn on its decision after facing lack of technical manpower to conduct the recruitment exam.
DoPT deputy secretary issued a memorandum to Railway Board chairperson stating that the department has given "in-principle approval" for recruitment through UPSC-ESE and UPSC-CSE.
Two batches recruitment via IRMS are undergoing training but are yet to be assigned work profiles.