7 Railway Zones Get New GMs After Ashwini Vaishnaw Took Charge As Railway Minister

In a major change in administration after Ashwini Vaishnaw took over as the Railway Minister last month, seven of the 18 railway zones have got new general managers. These zones include Eastern Railway, Central Railway and South Eastern Railway. The administrative reshuffle is being seen as a step to implement Vaishnaw’s vision for the Indian Railways. The national transporter has suffered heavy losses since the onset of Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, and has been looking at other revenue options like selling scrap and focusing on business development units.

The decision to appoint new general managers is being seen as an attempt to fast track the plans for modernising Indian Railways. Three of the seven new GMs have been part of the Railway Board and were handling important projects.

IRSME (Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineering) Arun Arora has been given the charge of Eastern Railway, while IRSE (Indian Railway Service of Engineers) Anil Kumar Lohati has been made the new General Manager of Central Railway. IRTS (Indian Railway Traffic Services) Archana Joshi is the new GM of South Eastern Railway.

Among the three, Lohati is known for planning the redevelopment of New Delhi Railway Station, utilising railway land for commercial purpose and devising several public private partnership (PPP) projects. Lohati’s experience in station redevelopment could help the Railways execute several such projects in future.

Other than these three, North Central Railway has also got a new GM in IRSEE (Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers) Pramod Kumar. IRSME Sanjeev Kishor has taken charge of South Western Railway. IRSME Anupam Sharma has also assumed office as GM of South Western Railway. South East Central Railway’s new GM is IRSME Alok Kumar.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai also has a new GM in IRSME AK. Agarwal. Whereas, IRSEE Sanjeev Bhutani has been made the new GM of Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) Lucknow.

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