New roles finalised for restructured rly board

New Delhi: Centre has finalised the work allocation of its restructured Railway Board, with the Chairman and CEO in charge of key divisions including safety, human resources, security and infrastructure portfolios.

According to a railway board order reviewed by Hindustan Times, the government has also finalised Cadre Controlling Authorities (CCAs) for existing railway services before its unified cadre, the Indian Railway Management Service, becomes functional.

In December 2019, the Union cabinet approved plans to trim the strength of the board to half, unify eight railway services (traffic, accounts, personnel, engineering, stores, electrical engineering, signal engineering and mechanical engineering) in a central service called the Indian Railway Management Service as part of a major reform of the 150-year-old transporter .

As the first chief operating officer of the national carrier, the railway board chairman will be the cadre controlling officer responsible for human resources (HR), with assistance from a director general (HR).

The other portfolios, which have an overarching effect on the running of railways and its immediate modernisation plans, have been entrusted to the CEO; the portfolios include safety, security, health, planning, infrastructure, vigilance, efficiency, research, public relations, heritage, the transformation cell and “corporate coordination.”

The appointments committee of the cabinet (ACC) earlier this month formally approved the restructuring of the Railway Board and approved the appointment of VK Yadav, the chairman of the railway board, as its first CEO.

With the new rearrangement, three apex level posts -- member (staff), member (engineering) and member (materials management) in Railway Board have been surrendered and the post of member (rolling stock) has been utilised for creation of the post of director general (HR).

The railway board is the apex body of Indian Railways which reports to Parliament via the ministry of railways. It will now consist of the chairperson and four members, in charge of infrastructure, operations and business development, rolling stock and finance, respectively .

According to the railway board order issued on Tuesday: other members of the board including member (infrastructure) have been allotted work related to civil engineering, bridges, signals and telecom, land and amenities, station development and railway electrification.

Member (traction and rolling stock) will be in charge of production units, mechanical workshops, coaches and trainsets, among other things. Member (operations and business development), will be responsible for traffic transportation, tourism and catering, non-fare revenue and marketing. Member (finance) will oversee all accounts and revenue.