Special Class Railway Apprentice

Special Class Railway Apprentice (SCRA) refers to a handful of candidates that are selected by the Union Public Service Commission India after a very rigorous selection process to the undergraduate program in Mechanical Engineering at the Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. This program was started in 1927 and is one of the oldest in India.

The Exam (Hard to get in)

The pattern of the exam is as follows

Part I : Written Examination carrying a maximum of 600 marks in the subjects as shown below :
Paper	Subject	Time Allowed	Maximum Marks
I	General Ability Test (English, General Knowledge and Psychological Test)	2 hrs	200
II	Physical Sciences (Physics and Chemistry)	2 hrs	200
III	Mathematics	2 hrs	200
Part II : Personality Test carrying a maximum of 200 marks in respect of only those candidates who are declared qualified on the results of written examination.

The 'Personality Test' is an interview conducted at the main office of UPSC at Dholpur House, New Delhi. A panel of about 6-8 quiz the canditates on General Knowledge and Science. The emphasis is more on ascertaining the approach to problems than on information or familiarity with technique. So close are the scores at this stage that the interviews are often considered the only real test.

The selection rate is less than 1 in 10,000 and the competition for the 10 seats (approximately) is fierce. These candidates are then trained in Mechanical Engineering. They follow a sandwich system of education mixing practical training at workshops with theoretical classroom training. Education is free and the students are also paid a comfortable monthly stipend

The training is conducted at the IRIMEE and the students stay at the Jamalpur Gymkhana

Career

After the completion of their training, they are absorbed into the highest level leadership program in the Railway organization (also called Class 1 officers). This cadre of officers are attached to the IRSME.

Many of them have gone on to become the Chairmen of the Railways. Others have done exceedingly well in the Business, Educational and Social world.

Dwindling

A very selective group at best, the numbers have been further reduced due to the shrinkage in the Mechanical Department in the Indian Railways. The alumni of the program are called SAMs [An acronym for Special Apprentice (Mechanical)]. Currently, there are about 1400 SAMs.

External links

The official site of Indian Railway Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering [1]

General Information by the UPSC [2]

The schedule of exam published by the UPSC [3]

More details on the exam from a private career guidance site [4]

The Official site of the IRSME association [5]