Reform in Organised Services-Critical Analysis, Part-II

“You can’t sweat the asset unless you know the limits”

Having analysed the three #civil-services of Indian Railways, let us focus on organized services recruited through #ESE

Engineering Services

Indian Railway Stores Service

#IRSS typically had officers with good ranks in #ESE but with #medical issues, predominantly colour blindness. With electronic #procurements, well defined #specifications, #schedules and #requirements, there is hardly any meaningful role left for #IRSS in Indian Railways.

In fact there is a case where #contracts can be given to #private-parties to #procure, #stock and #supply for consuming units of #Railways. This would save money substantially which can be devoted to network strengthening and #Safety while ensuring elimination of non-value adding roles.

The IRSS officers can readily be absorbed in other #technical-services as they progress or #Ministry of Railway can work with #government of India to deploy these officers for their specialized knowledge for handling #procurements in central schemes.

Many experts note that by restricting officers only in positions of #procurement several unethical practices have developed. No matter where a typical #stores officer gets deployed, he handles typically same set of #vendors throughout his career. Spate of #CBI cases cry for institutional reform.

It is time #reformation and transformation looks at basics. With specifications, schedules, requirements, bill of materials, trial protocols, procurement practices well laid out, these officers with excellent academic accomplishments can be deployed in better roles which create and sustain value.

As of now the service has outlived its value.

Indian Railway Service of Engineering

IR’s #civil-engineers were regarded as gold standards of civil engineering practice in the country-no wonder, #Roorkee’s famed #Civil-Engineering department produced #engineers who saw #railways as their first choice.

Major part of civil engineers till atleast 18-20 years of service (when they get #SAG) spend time on ground doing arduous outdoor work with the department #rotating the officers in various roles.

To its credit, the department monitors every inch of #track of #IndianRailways every twenty four hours. Its officers struggle with weather and keep their #track, #bridges and #structures in good fettle, however, it is sad that department has slipped in to such a shape that today more officers prefer #Construction of #stations and #buildings over P. Way.

However, excessive #Corruption failure of leadership from the department led to massive fall in the department’s standing. Petty corruption at #SSE/Works level and its routine condonation and acceptance has made this department slip in to an abyss. Also, there is hardly a building which can survive one monsoon without leakage.

Role of officers like #AKKhandelwal has brought disrepute to this organization.

Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineering

#Signal & Telecom engineers became first of all engineers to abdicate their roles to the #contractors. The department today has been locked out by #vendors. Excessive #cartelisation, powerful vendors have made the cadre very timid. This has resulted in #accidents like #Balasore.

The treatment meted by #station-staff to #officers and #supervisors of S&T department is surely a matter of concern. Supervisors of #signalling department have been claiming roles which #operating department supervisors have been traditionally doing. However, Indian Railways has followed a practice that operating hand does not own or maintain the asset. Which is correct in a way.

#Government needs to slow down investment in #Kavach and work with signalling engineers on multiple level. That should include identification of honest and upright officers with integrity and loyalty to IR. There must be a program where by the signal engineers must get international certifications. Work started with #CRR/#IITKGP should be taken to logical conclusion.

#IRSSE needs to pull themselves up and need support from political leadership and organisation’s leadership to shake off the noxious control of #vendors and their #cartels. #RailSafety cannot be ensured unless this department sees professional sprucing up.

Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical department suffered from excessive rivalry between officers from its two separate recruitment channels – Special Class Apprentices (#SCA) and direct #ESE recruits. SCAs came with clear age advantage of 1-2 year vis a vis their peers of #IRSME and other engineering services. That is if an individual got admission in B.Tech. in very first attempt after class-XII and then in very first attempt into the ESE, still SCAs enjoyed an age advantage. This became major contention and led to rules like rule of ten while making the general managers.

However, it is to the credit of mechanical engineers that they created core of IR’s #factories, #sheds and #workshops. The #Member/Mechanical had stores department under him. The stores department was seen as doing dirty job of procurement for mechanical and electrical department (both under #MM) and was kept under tight control. It is also a fact that while stores functioned under erstwhile Member Mechanical, the department never had reputation of a loose canon that it gained after #AKMital, the first #IRSS officer to become #Chairman/Railway Board with #SudheerKumar tilted scales heavily in favour of IRSS officers.

Further, the control which IRSME exercised in management of Group ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’ has kept IR on track and in check.

Sensing loss of preeminence, SCAs have invested heavily in upskilling and it is pleasure to meet highly endowed mechanical officers with international certifications and degrees. This is truly positive way of facing challenges and every department needs to learn from this small group of officers.

Excessive interference of few #private-vendors in matters of #diesel-locomotives dealt body blow to the standing of mechanical engineers. Though they control train sets, their excessive reliance on few private vendors has created vulnerability in very important fleet.

Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineering

Electrical Engineering earlier worked as a minor department under Mechanical and got its own Member under visionary Madhav Rao Scindia, who till date is fondly remembered as the one of the finest railway ministers. This set IR on path of higher railway #electrification, #production of higher powered #locomotives, support to #suburban-services and development of high power #semiconductor industry in the country.

After #unigauge-policy which was handled by the civil engineers, #electrical-engineers handled signature #unitraction-policy. The #Member of Electrical Department also had S&T department under him. However, string of #Members who served as Member Electrical (#ML) were known more for their moral and financial #Corruption which corroded the core of this highly productive department.

Working with extreme manpower constraint, the department became inventive in developing core #technological strengths. However, it also fell to machinations of its celebrated officers like #SudheerKumar and #VKYadav who for their personal ambition killed the department and its talent, and at the same time, the railway were also pushed into the abyss for their personal ambitions, proverbially selling it to private sector at exorbitant cost to railways.

Mythical fight of Mechanical and Electrical departments

Battle of #Traction or fight between #Mechanical and #Electrical departments is often referred as core reason of need of #restructuring of various services. It is true that the two departments fought over every inch of #electrification, every additional #locomotive produced, delayed the #trainset project however the fight was never debilitating to railways.

This #competition always made sure that assets got readily benchmarked and fights never led to loss of #Railways, or #Career opportunities or #Safety, or infructuous expenditure. Mechanical was and rightly remains a larger department given its large asset base of coaches and wagons.

The fight as it was presented was only between individuals while it was system which scrutinised and noisily debated every proposal. Some spirited individuals fought this through media also, but that did not effect IR in any enervative way.

Famously, it was traffic which set the two departments against each other. Yes egos also came to play as electrical was a subordinate department under mechanical and mechanical still controlled workshops and manpower while assets shifted under the control of electrical. One is amused to see mechanical and traffic flush with Group ‘C’ and ‘D’ while asset heavy electrical department which added Railway Electrification and locomotives in big numbers after 2014 has seen men to asset ratio dropping dangerously.

The Central Training Institute (#CTI) of mechanical engineering is still called Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (#IRIMEE) at Jamalpur in Munger district of Bihar reflecting the essence of this vertical, but there was never any attempt to train electrical engineers here, while the training of electrical engineers happened in #Thakurli in Mumbai (before setting up of #IRIEEN at Nasik, Maharashtra).

It is to the credit of Mechanical officers that even God forsaken town of #Jamalpur was patronised by them for decades with pride. This has been subtle message to all those who joined IR that IR just does not operate in cities. A lesson sadly lost on civil service recruits to IR.

Position of Engineers today

It is a fact that the reliability of IR’s assets has slipped substantially but that has more to do with choice of leaders who saw railway assets as cash cows for their personal finances and readily taking side of vendors.

#Engineers today have been reduced to ones who just do the #tenders and manage them. #RDSO is reduced as toothless tiger only seen in its role as #vendor development authority.

It is also a fact that once the #Manuals and #Codes have been written initiative of engineers in taking technical decisions is not required in most of the cases. However, the feed to the levels which write manuals and specify safety norms come from these foot soldiers. One can consider replacing them, as has been done after 2019, but how can senior officers be groomed to handle rough and tumble that railways throws up? How can matters be left in hands of vendors as has happened following Sudheer Kumar’s disastrous #Madhepura and #Marowrah interventions? Today IR’s own Production Units (#PUs) manufacture locomotives at half the price and deliver 30% higher pulling effort vis a vis Sudheer Kumar’s #WAG12B. To #SudhanshuMani and #SudheerKumar’s vendor dependent #VandeBharat, IR’s PUs created #AmritBharat platform.

These units of railways do not advertise but produce in a year what these new factories will produce in ten years!

Where to begin?

The thought that #engineering role in #railways can be compared to that of #PWD or #Electricity Board engineers in state government, roles which are subordinate to #IAS officers is misplaced.

There is surely a need of #reform and it has to be the reform rooted in “back to basics” approach carefully analysing the value creation/value sustenance by each of these erstwhile organized services.

RDSO has to be cornerstone of any safety centred reform of Railways. IR’s safety can not be improved by civil service recruits-it is sad but true conclusion. #NDA government made a huge bet under influence of self serving Khan Market Gang (#KMG) officers led by #SudheerKumar who all were engineers, the bet has clearly misfired.

They forgot that every role in an organisation must add value instead of being in gate keeping roles void of any responsibility.

Cornerstone of #Modi government has been massive investments in railways’ #infrastructure. It now needs to be maintained and kept in safe condition. It is important to recruit engineers and give them the respect that they deserve in organisation which is a heavy engineering organization at its core.

However, government having messed up and created large pools of #corrupt officers manning important engineering positions must get bold and credible officers in all departments who can stand up to the #cartels and powerful #vendors. That core is not yet lost, still some redemption is possible.

Let us not forget #metro-revolution happened on the strength of railway engineers.

Look at #Tandon Committee, #Kakodkar Committee, #Debroy committee and urgently clean up the mess of #cadre-merger. Keep #railway-safety at its core.

#Mantri ji, there would be people who would argue and rightly at that, that the majority of engineers do not need to apply their engineering skills at field. However, having presided so many accidents you would for sure know by now that how limits, tolerances, clearances matter. People who arrive at them are the ones who have handled matters themselves, seen failures close at hand. The pool of such seemingly passive engineers are the grist to the mill which only can produce well rounded asset owners capable to write manuals and define the limits.

You can’t sweat the asset unless you know the limits. World has moved on far away from feudal structure, bosses should be seen as #value-adders, not just #gatekeepers with no #responsibility or #accountability.

Civil services are not answer for every problem.

They can perhaps be THE problem. Give it a thought. Contd…