IRSME

The Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering (IRSME) is a cadre of the Government of India. The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Mechanical Engineering Organisation of the Indian Railways

The recruitment to the cadre is done through two sources

Conducted for the selection of top ranking officials at the government of India (GROUP A). Both of these selection exams are conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) of India. The UPSC is responsible for recruiting middle and top-level bureaucrats for the Government of India.

The main areas of responsibility

This organisation was central to all operations when the only modes of traction were Steam Locomotives and Diesel Electric Locomotives. With the use of electric traction on the trunk routes, the responsibility of traction operations has been shared with the Electrical Department.

All the coaches and wagons are maintained by the Mechanical Department. The air-conditioning part of the coaches on the system was maintained by the Electrical Department. A Railway Board order to bring the entire rolling stock under unified maintenance of the Mechanical Department in 2003 was held in abeyance under pressure from Electrical Department Unions.

This has been adopted in 2016 wherein all locomotives (electric & diesel) including crew is now under electeic department. The entire rolling stock mintenance including MEMU and train lighting of coaches is now under mechanical department. Accordingly at Railway Board level post of MEMBER MECHANICAL is redesignated as MEMBER ROLLING STOCK.

The responsibilities and assignments of train operations are loosely referred to as Open Line. A great deal of emphasis is placed on open line experience. Indeed, there are few cases of people who have succeeded in the organisation without a significant tenures on the Open Line.

From a general public's point of view the most exciting tasks are related to accident relief and traffic restoration. IRSME is responsible for designing, acquiring / building and maintenance of the accident relief infrastructure and organisation. In times of emergency, the appropriate officer is responsible for mobilising the Accident Relief Medical Equipment (ARME) and Accident Relief Trains (ART). Accidents are times of great stress and anxiety. Inquiries and investigation into the cause can carry on for months after a major accident.

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Wikipedia