Jamalpur Gymkhana

India railway engineer school

The Jamalpur Gymkhana, often referred to as Gymkhana (or merely Gym) by its members, is a hostel for young apprentice officers of the Indian Railways in Jamalpur, Bihar, India. It is also a club like any other Gymkhana. The difference is that membership to this club is restricted only to those who spend their formative years in its corridors. It is difficult to talk about Gymkhana without quickly moving on to the anecdotal history of its members current and past, referred to as Gymmies by its inmates.

In the early 20th century, India faced a shortage of mechanical engineers in running a fast growing rail system. The Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE), started in the year 1888 as Technical School. In the year 1927, the training of Mechanical Engineering Officers for Indian Railways commenced. It is the oldest of the six Centralised Training Institutes (CTIs) functioning for training of Officers of the Indian Railways. IRIMEE is located at Jamalpur in the Munger (spelled Monghyr, during the British rule of India) district of Bihar, on the Patna Bhagalpur rail route. IRIMEE conducts short term courses for Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers (IRSME) Officers and other Organisations, 18 months training for IRSME Probationary Officers and four years undergraduate programme for the Special Class Apprentices (called SCAs or SCRAs for Special Class Railway Apprentices). The 'Special Class Railway Apprentices' (SCRAs) stay at the Jamalpur Gymkhana during the four years when they undergo training as undergraduate engineers. They have been doing so since 1929 when the Gymkhana was built. But in 2015, Railways decided to close down this examination after UPSC communicated that it was not inclined to continue conducting the examination.