The Centre on Wednesday appointed AK Mital as the new Railway Board Chairman and the ex-officio Principal Secretary to the Government of India. Mital succeeds Arunendra Kumar who superannuated on Wednesday from Railway services.
While the appointment of Chairman of Railway Board (CRB) has in the past been always controversial leading to months of speculations, this is perhaps for the first time in recent years that the appointment committee chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided for Mital’s appointment at one go in a very transparent manner.
Mital has a huge task ahead including putting high speed corridors, execution of bullet trains besides boosting the financial aspects of the railways. Prior to this appointment Mital was Member Staff, Railway Board.
Earlier, he served as General Manager of South Western Railway-SWR (Headquarters Hubli) and was also looking after the additional charge of General Manager, South Central Railway — SCR (Headquarters Secunderabad). An Officer of 1976 batch of Indian Railways Service of Stores (IRSS), Mital has worked on various important posts on Indian Railways. He has also undergone training in USA and France.
With the elevation of Mital as CRB, Pradeep Kumar has now taken over as new Member Staff. Prior to this appointment he was General Manager, North-Central Railway along with additional charge of General Manager, Northern Railway. Kumar’s expertise in handling North Eastern Railways is likely to be used since as the Prime Minister is keen on fast tracking the NE region on Railway map.
While eight GMs too were appointed at one go, the Additional Member (Electrical) and General Manager of South Eastern Central Railway Navin Tondon was appointed as new Member Electrical, Railway Board. Further, AK Puthia is the new GM of Northern Railway, Rajiv Mishra has become GM of Northeast Railway and Mahesh Mangal is the GM of Centre of Railway Electrification.
A Singhal has been appointed GM of Northwest zone, AK Mital is the new GM of East-Central Railways. Alok Dave has become GM of Rail Coach Factory and S Mukherjee has been appointed GM of the National Academy of Indian Railways. AK Harit has been appointed as GM of Diesel locomotive Works.