Cabinet approves first restructuring of Railway Board; V K Yadav to be appointed first CEO

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of the current chairman of the Railway Board V K Yadav as the first ever Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the organisation as part of the government decision to restructure the Railway Board.

The Union Cabinet in December last year approved major reforms in the functioning of the India Railways, which also involved restructuring of the Railway Board by reducing its strength from eight to five members.

While Yadav has been appointed Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Pradeep Kumar has been appointed Member, Infrastructure, PC Sharma has been appointed Member, Traction and Rolling Stock, PS Mishara has been made Member, Operations and Business Development and Manjula Rangarajan has been appointed Member, Finance.

Following the new arrangement, existing three apex level posts -- Member (Staff), Member (Engineering) and Member (Materials Management) in the Railway Board have been surrendered and the post of Member (Rolling Stock) has been utilised for creation of the post of Director General (HR) in apex grade.

As per the earlier restructuring plan, the chairman and CEO of the Railway Board will be the cadre controlling officer responsible for human resources (HR) with assistance from a DG (HR).

The Indian Railway Medical Service (IRMS) will be renamed the Indian Railway Health Service (IRHS). The process to merge eight railway-related wings into a single central service called the Indian Railway Management Service (IRMS) is underway.

Aimed at bringing total reforms in the functioning of the Indian Railways, the NDA government earlier took a decision for complete restructuring of the Railway Board by reducing its strength from eight to five members, including the chairman, and merging its different cadres into a single Indian Railways Management Service (IRMS).

The NDA government had also taken a major decision to bring reforms in the functioning of the Railway Ministry to end departmentalism, expedite decision making and promote smooth functioning.