Over two years after being declared, the Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS), which will unify eight existing services of the national transporter, has been reported by the Ministry of Railways. In pursuance of Cabinet's judgment dated 24.12.2019, there shall be a creation of a new Group A Central service named Indian Railway Management Service a gazette notification, released by the ministry on February 9, noted. In December 2019, to end departmentalism in railways, the cabinet committee on economic affairs (CCEA), chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, declared the merger of eight existing Group A services into a single unified central service, the IRMS. The services which are being united are the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers, Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), Indian Railway Stores Service (IRSS), Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE), Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS), Indian Railway Service of Signal Engineers (IRSSE), Indian Railway Accounts Services (IRAS) and Indian Railway Personnel Service (IRPS). The merger will mean that railways are left with only two departments, namely the Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Medical Service Department (MSD). Presented under then railway minister Piyush Goyal, the reform will be conducted at all levels, from Junior Scale to Higher Administrative Grade (HAG) plus. Under this, 27 General Manager (GM) posts have been upgraded to apex grade. Promotion of eligible officers under the erstwhile services to apex grade will be guaranteed. Additionally, only IRMS officers will be qualified to become functional members or CEO of the Railway Board. Image Source Also read: Capex of Indian Railways to reach Rs 2.45 trillion in FY 2022-23