Govt Restores Engineering Services Exam for Indian Railways Recruitment

The Center on Saturday reversed its 2019 decision and approved the hiring of railway personnel through the UPSC's Civil Services Exam (CSE) and Engineering Services Exam (ESE).

The Indian Railway Management System (IRMS) officer pool has been filled by the Railways Ministry exclusively through CSE for the past two years. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) wrote an office note to the Chairman of the Railway Board stating that the request from the Ministry of Railways dated October 3, 2024 was taken into consideration before deciding to restore ESE.

The October 5, 2024 DoPT letter states, "Taking into account the Ministry of Railways unique requirement of both technical and non-technical manpower, the in-principle approval of this department to the proposal of Ministry of Railways for recruitment through UPSC-ESE and UPSC-CSE is hereby conveyed subject to... conditions."

The department further stated that the new recruiting process brought about by the Cabinet resolution of December 24, 2019, would not in any way be in conflict with the planned scheme of recruitment. Shortly after the DoPT gave its clearance, the Ministry of Railways informed the UPSC, the nodal department for ESE, and the secretary of the Department of Telecommunications of its plan to recruit through ESE and CSE in a letter.

The letter from Satish Kumar, Chairman and CEO of the Railway Board, noted that the Ministry of Telecommunications had already notified the Railway Board of the ESE Rules for 2025, with the deadline for applications being October 8, 2024. The letter also stated: "It is requested that the Ministry of Railways' participation in the IRMS for the recruitment of engineers in various disciplines through ESE-2025 be added to the existing notification by issuing an addendum to it. In order to provide ample opportunity to the candidates for applying, it is proposed that the last date of submission of application may be suitably extended and notified in the UPSC’s website.”