UPSC to hold recruitment exam for Railways from 2023 onwards

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Railways has said the recruitment for the Indian Railway Management Service will be done through a specially designed exam that will be conducted by the UPSC from 2023 onwards.

The Indian Railway Management Service Examination (IRMSE) will be a two-tier test -- a preliminary screening examination followed by a main written examination and interview. For screening candidates for the second stage of the examination, i.e. IRMS (Main) written examination, all eligible candidates shall be required to appear in Civil Services (Preliminary) examination, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The IRMS (Main) exam will consist of four papers of conventional essay type questions in subject sets. The first will have two qualifying papers of 300 marks each -- Paper A on one of the Indian languages selected by the candidate and Paper B on English. There would be two papers on optional subjects for 250 marks each.

A personality test of 100 marks will also be conducted. The optional subjects are Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Commerce and Accountancy. The syllabi for the aforesaid qualifying papers and optional subjects will be the same as those for the Civil Services Examination (CSE).

The common candidates for CSE and IRMS (Main) exams may opt for any of the aforesaid optional subjects for both these examinations or choose separate optional subjects. The language medium and scripts for the qualifying papers and optional subjects will be the same as those for the CSE (Main). The age limit and number of attempts for various categories will be the same as those for the CSE.

The minimum educational qualification for the IRMSE will be a degree in Engineering, Commerce or Chartered Accountancy. The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will draw and declare a list of finally recommended candidates from the four disciplines in order of merit. The preliminary and main written round of both CSE and IRMSE will be held simultaneously, the ministry said.

The IRMSE will be notified simultaneously with the CSE, it said. According to the Annual Programme of the Examination of the UPSC for 2023, CSE (Prelim) is scheduled to be notified and held on February 1 and May 28 respectively.