In new roles for restructured Railway Board, CEO to retain key portfolios

The Railways has decided the work allocation of its restructured Railway Board with the Chairman and CEO emerging as the all powerful face of the national transporter by retaining the most significant safety, security and infrastructure portfolios.

According to a railway board order issued on Tuesday, the Centre has also finalised Cadre Controlling Authorities (CCA) for the existing railway services, with the first Chief Operating Officer of the Indian Railways being the cadre controlling officer responsible for Human Resources (HR) with assistance from a DG(HR).

The other portfolios, which have an overarching effect on the smooth running of railways and its immediate plans of modernisation, have been entrusted with the CEO -- Health, Planning, Vigilance, Efficiency and Research, Public Relations, Heritage, Transformation Cell and Corporate Co-ordination.

"The distribution of work has been made in such a way that all those works that have an effect on the overall development of the Railways will be overseen by the CEO. This will mean less delays in decision making and eliminates all possibilities of dilution of any instructions. Safety has been given to him because it has to undergo independent audit, said an official explaining the move.

The Cabinet had earlier approved the restructuring of the Railway Board, whose strength has been cut from eight to five, as part of large scale reforms initiated by the national transporter.

While present Chairman VK 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.

Before the restructuring, the board was divided vertically among services, with each service having its own member. The chairman was the first among equals wherein the members were responsible for their own department and cadre. They did not need to seek permission from the Chairman for key decisions including transfer and postings of personnel from their service.

However, now virtually every decision has to be approved by the CEO and he also has the authority to overrule in case there is a divided house.

Among the other members of the Railway Board, Member (Infrastructure) has been allotted works related to civil engineering, bridges, signal and telecom, land and amenities, station development and railway electrification.

Member, Traction and Rolling Stock (TRS) ) will be incharge of production units, mechanical workshops, coaches, train sets, maintenance of coaching stock among other things. Member, Operations and Business Development(O&B D), will be responsible for traffic transportation, coaching, tourism and catering commercial, non-fare revenue and marketing and business development. Member, Finance, will be in charge of all accounts and revenue.

The posts of Member (staff), member (materials management) and member (engineering) have been eliminated from the Railway Board, and all the remaining posts will now be open to all officers regardless of the service to which they belong.