The Government of India today issued orders notifying the appointment of three vital posts in the Railway Board. Two of these posts have been vacant for several months. However, two of the new appointments are set to retire from service within a year from now. The current Chairman & CEO of the Railway Board, Suneet Sharma, is also set to retire in December 2021.
Railway Board Appointments Made Today
Member (Infrastructure): Sanjeev Mittal (IRSE), currently General Manager of Central Railway, has been appointed to the post of Member (Infrastructure). The post was vacant since 1st March 2021. No information on his replacement as General Manager of Central Railway has been provided so far. He is set to retire from service in March 2022.
Member (Operations and Business Development): Sanjay Kumar Mohanty (IRTS), currently General Manager of South Eastern Railway, has been appointed the new Member (Ops and BD) on the Railway Board. He will take over from P S Mishra who is set to retire on 30th April 2021. As with CR, Indian Railways has not yet announced SK Mohanty’s replacement in South Eastern Railway. He will retire from service in December 2022.
Member (Traction and Rolling Stock): Rahul Jain (IRSME), currently Director-General, Safety at the Railway Board, has been appointed the new Member (Traction & Rolling Stock). The post was vacant since February 2021. No announcement on his replacement has yet been received.
Rahul Jain had only recently moved to the Railway Board as DG – Safety from his post as General Manager, Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. Jain will retire from service in March 2022.
Other Senior Vacancies Continue
RailPost had in March 2021 highlighted the issue of several posts lying vacant at important levels in the organization. As of now, General Manager positions for Integral Coach Factory, Eastern Railway, South Western Railway, North Central Railway are vacant. With the new Railway Board appointments, South Eastern Railway and Central Railway could end up without General Managers if replacements are not announced soon.
Except for S K Mohanty, three of the four most important posts in the Railway Board will see new faces appointed within a year from now. Unless he is given an extension at the last moment, Suneet Sharma, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Railway Board, will also retire in December 2021.
It remains to be seen if this Railway Board team, in its limited tenure, is able make a significant impact on Indian Railways’ grand plans to speed up lagging projects, ramp up infrastructure and grab a larger freight market share.
