Pradeep Kumar, general manager, North-Central Railway, has been given additional charge as GM, Northern Railway. He succeeds VK Gupta, who has been elevated as member engineering and ex-officio, secretary to the Govt of India. Pradeep Kumar also holds the charge of Centre for Railway Electrification (CORE) as its GM.
Belonging to the Indian Railway Services of Engineering of 1977 batch, Kumar has graduated from with Bachelors in Civil Engineering from University of Roorkee and joined railway services on North-Eastern Railway in the year 1978. Kumar has a wide range of experience of working with various zones like north-eastern, northern, north-central, eastern, south eastern, south central as well in the Railway Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) as well as in the apex body of railway board.
Kumar has held several important positions viz addl member, Civil Engineering, Railway Board, advisor, Railway Projects, Railway Board, executive director (Training & Manpower Planning), Railway Board, divisional railway manager, Northern Railway, Delhi, chief bridge engineer and also the chief track engineer, Northern Railway. He was also deputed to work abroad on assignments and has represented the Indian railways at various forums in Germany, Italy, France, Finland, Hungary, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada and USA. Kumar also secured MDPA from IIPA, Delhi in the year 1997.
The tenure of Kumar in each of the above key assignments is marked with noteworthy distinctions. While in the RDSO, he had designed a special type of concrete sleeper which are laid on points and crossings, known as Fan shaped turnouts. These turnouts have helped to improve track maintenance and safety and are adopted as standard on Indian Railways. Similarly, his term as an executive director, Civil Engineering & Planning, is marked with the distinction of achieving highest ever progress for track renewals. As the head of the department of Civil Engineering on South Central Railway, he spearheaded the zone to win the civil engineering shield for three years consecutively for 2009-10, 2010-11 and 2011-12 respectively and the shield for level-crossings and ROBs for the year 2011-12. As addl member, Civil Engineering, Railway Boards, he has looked after policy matters of civil engineering.