Railways in India led to an era of Modernisation and integration of hinterland with the big cities. In the initial years railways was being built by different companies which promised a fixed rate of return to its investors. However due to the strategic importance of railways, soon the British Indian Government realised that it should have a greater control over the affairs of the Railways. In an attempt to regulate and standardise the functioning of the railways in India, British Indian Government set up a committee named ‘East Indian Railway Committee’ in 1920 under the chairmanship of British Economist William Mitchell Acworth. The committee has 3 Indian members and it was popularly called as ‘Acworth Committee’. The committee submitted its report in 1921.
Major Recommendations of Acworth Committee
The major recommendations of Acworth committee were as follows:
- Consolidation and Nationalisation of Indian Railways for greater control of government over the affairs of the Railways.
- Separation of Railways budget from General Budget. It was due to this recommendation that under the “Separation Convention” of 1924 Railways Budget was separated from the General Budget.
- Emancipation of Railways from finance department.
- Setting up of a training institute to be named as Railway Staff College for training of Railway staff. This was required because the affairs of Railways were getting complicated day by day and specific training was required to manage the huge railway assets.
Setting up of First Railway Staff College(Dehradun)
The first Railway Staff College was set up in 1930 in Dehradun in the same building complex in which the Indian Military Academy is located at present. However sadly due to recessionary trends(Due to Great Depression of 1930s) in many of the state railways in 1930s Railway Board established a “Retrenchment Advisory Committee” in 1931. The committee recommended for closing down of the Railway Staff College as it was considered as an ‘Expensive Luxury’.
Rebirth of Railway Staff College( Vadodara)
The Railway Staff College had its rebirth in 1952 when it was again started in Pratap Vilas Palace in Vadodara City. The Staff College has now been renamed as National Academy of Indian Railways(NAIR) and caters to the training of Railway officers of all services. The academy is nodal academy only for IRPS, IRSS and IRHS services only. However the foundation and induction Courses of all the 9 organised services are held in NAIR only.
Pratap Vilas Palace
Pratap Vilas Palace houses the administrative complex of the Academy. The palace building is a classic example of Renaissance style building. The Palace Building as it is popularly called was designed by Charles Stevens son of famous architect F. W. Stevens who designed the World Famous Victoria Terminus(Now Known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus) building. The building was built by Maharaja Sayaji Rao for his eldest son Fatehsingh Rao. The building was completed in 1914. The building was leased by Bombay Government in 1949 and given to Railways for its use. Later on in 1964 Railways purchased the property for Rs 24,38,271.
Debroy Committee Report
Debroy Committee was set up on September 22, 2014 to prepare a blueprint for reforming Indian Railways. The decision was taken because Indian Railways was suffering from huge infrastructure bottlenecks and efficiency. The major recommendations of the committee were as under:
- Changing the relationship between the Railways and government by merging the railway budget from General Budget. This was suggested because unlike earlier times the Railway Budget has reduced in size as compared to General Budget with the passing of time. Considering this recommendation the Railway budget was merged with General Budget in 2017.
- Encouraging private entry in Railways in PPP mode.
- Railways to have an independent Regulator.
- Streamline the recruitment process and HR in Railways.
According to the committee’s point of view the 8 organised services in Railways viz. IRTS, IRAS, IRPS, IRSS, IRSSE, IRSE, IRSEE and IRSME were leading to silo functioning and departmentalism. Considering the above issues, the committee recommended for merger of the above services into two broader categories viz. Technical and Logistical. The services were to be called as IRTechS and IRLogS.
Cabinet Decision of 24 December 2019 and Creation of IRMS
In an extraordinary turn of events Union cabinet on 24th December 2019 approved the proposal of Railway Ministry to merge all the existing 8 organised services into one service. The newly created service was to be called as IRMS i.e. Indian Railway Management Service. The nodal training academy of IRMS is Indian Railway Institute of Transport Management(IRITM). In this context the future of NAIR has become somewhat uncertain.
Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya( National Rail and Transportation Institute)
A Union Cabinet’s decision of 2017 led to the creation of Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya(GSV). The University was established on September 5, 2018 in the campus of National Academy of Indian Railways. The University is the first transport university in India focussing exclusively on transport and logistics related education. After the establishment of GSV in the campus of NAIR both the university and officers training courses are running in the NAIR campus simultaneously.
The Future of NAIR( Vadodara)
With IRMS being formed and IRITM being the nodal academy of IRMS probationers the future of Officers training in NAIR seems uncertain. Also the Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya has occupied a significant space in the academy’s campus. However the Management Development Programme(MDP) and the Advance management Program(AMP) are still being held for mid carrier orientation of Railway officers in the campus of NAIR.