Offices allege merging of railways services unilateral

A group of officers working in Indian Railways has alleged that the decision of merging different services in railways was unilateral and will negatively impact the safety of train operations.

Civil Services officers from 13 railway zones and around 60 divisions have submitted written memorandums running into more than 250 pages to the Centre.

Big brown envelopes containing the representations against the merger of eight services into the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) have been delivered to the desks of the railway board chairman, the railway minister, DoPT secretary, cabinet secretary and even the Prime Minister on Wednesday and Thursday.

The memorandums stated that there are around 2,500 civil services officers who will be affected by the merger.

All the representations also mentioned how the decision of merging different services will compromise safety in train operations, stating that to avoid asset failures, expert specialization of that asset is essential.