Railway officers will now be promoted solely on merit and not seniority, the national transporter has decided while merging its eight service cadre into the new Indian Railways Management Service, according to a gazette notification issued on Friday.
“In the existing system, officers were promoted based on their seniority level (considering their date of joining), but in the new method, promotion to officers will be given purely on the basis of merit,” a railway official said, requesting anonymity. “This will help in faster and professional decision-making and implementation.”
“This is a better system,” said Shree Prakash a former railway official. “It is the resumption of the old method that will boost officers to take up challenging positions, thus benefiting railways and people at large. It will improve the railways.”
