UPSC IRMSE: Commission to hold Railway recruitment test (IRMSE) from 2023

The Ministry of Railways recently announced that Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) will hold a two tier examination for recruiting personnel to the Indian Railway Management Service.

The first Indian Railway Management Service Examination (IRMSE) will be held in 2023.

The IRMSE will be a two-tier examination- a Preliminary Screening Examination, followed by a Main Written Examination and Interview.

UPSC Civil Services Prelims exam will act as the qualifying test for IMRSE Mains exam, as per the ministry statement. The structure of the exam will be same as CSE, in terms of syllabi, paper pattern, age limit, etc.

"For screening suitable number of candidates for the 2nd stage of the Examination, viz, IRMS (Main) Written Examination, all eligible candidates shall be required to appear in Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and suitable number of candidates will be screened for IRMS (Main) Examination," it added.

UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2023 is scheduled to be notified and held on February 1 and May 28, respectively. "Since the CSP Exam – 2023 will be utilized for screening the candidates for IRMS (Main) Examination also, the IRMS Examination -2023 will be notified following the same schedule," the ministry said.

The IRMS (Main) Examination will have four papers of conventional essay type questions:

Paper A- One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. – 300 marks

Paper B - English – 300 marks

Optional Subject ‐ Paper 1 – 250 marks

Optional Subject ‐ Paper 2 – 250 marks

Personality Test – 100 marks

While papers A and B will act as qualifying papers, the two optional papers will be considered for merit. The optional subjects are: Civil Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Commerce and Accountancy.

"The common candidates of Civil Services (Main) Examination and IRMS (Main) Examination may opt for any of the aforesaid optional subjects for both these examinations or choose separate optional subjects for these Examinations (one for the CSE (Main) and one for the IRMSE (Main) as per the schemes of these two examinations)," the statement added.