The Commissionerate of Railway Safety (CRS) should continue to be under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, as is the case now, instead of it being made a subset of the railway regulator, the Bibek Debroy Committee on railway restructuring has stated in its final report, which was submitted to the Railways today.

The interim report had suggested that the rail safety function should be moved to the regulator. The report has also moved the idea of having a regulator up the priority list seeking a regulator faster, said sources in the know.

UNBUNDLING LATER

Unbundling of the railways can be taken up at a later stage, after five years, instead of starting to work towards that aim now, as was suggested earlier in the interim-report. T

“A major change between the interim and final report was the realisation that the stage is not right for the railways to start un-bundling,” said sources in the know. This was a call the committee took to ensure to make it more acceptable to the Indian Railways.

Regarding the human resources, the report has said that there should either be single cadre or two cadres in the railways – engineering and non-engineering. At present, railways have multiple services – such as traffic, civil engineering, electrical engineering, accounts, stores, personnel, among others.

“It is easier for an engineering graduate to learn non-engineering than for a non-engineering graduate to learn engineering. So, it would be fairer to have two streams rather than a single stream. The committee was more inclined to the idea of having two services, but it has left it to the railways to take a call on the issue,” said a source in the know.

mamuni.das@thehindu.co.in

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