The officers of this service are responsible for managing the Mechanical Engineering Division of the Indian Railways.
After selection, the IRSME probationers report to their Centralized Training Institute (CTI): Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Jamalpur, (IRIMEE) for joining formalities and induction into the cadre as Officer Trainees or Probationary Officers.
The entire rolling stock maintenance including MEMU and train lighting of coaches is now under mechanical department.
From a general public's point of view the most exciting tasks are related to accident relief and traffic restoration.
IRSME is responsible for designing, acquiring / building and maintenance of the accident relief infrastructure and organisation.
The office of the Member Rolling Stock of the Railway Board guides the PCME on technical matters and policy.
At entry level an IRSME officer works as ADME (Assistant Divisional Mechanical Engineer) and commands 50–250 staff.
Production units, the manufacturing plants of the Indian Railways, are managed directly by the ministry.