Maligaon, Jan 02: Mr Vinod Kumar Yadav, IRSEE(Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineering), General Manager, South Central Railway has been appointed as Chairman, Railway Board (Ministry of Railways) and ex-officio Principal Secretary to Govt. of India. The appointments committee of the Cabinet has approved the appointment of Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav as Chairman Railway Board today i.e., 31st December 2018 on superannuation of Shri Ashwani Lohani.
Mr Vinod Kumar Yadav belongs to the 1980 batch of Indian Railway Service of Electrical Engineers (IRSEE). His academic qualifications include a Masters Degree in Business Administration – MBA (Technology Management) and a Bachelors Degree in Engineering (Electrical Engineering) from Allahabad University, Uttar Pradesh.
Commencing his career in Indian Railways as Assistant Electrical Engineer in February 1982, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav held several important executive and managerial positions in Indian Railways including as – Additional Divisional Railway Manager (Operation), Delhi Division, Northern Railway; Divisional Railway Manager, Lucknow Division, North Eastern Railway and Chief Electrical Engineer, Planning and Traction Distribution, Northern Railway.
Mr Yadav also worked on deputation in the Ministry of Industry, Govt. of India; Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCI); Indian Railway Construction Company Limited (IRCON); Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).
Mr Vinod Kumar Yadav, led South Central Railway to a creditable performance in the course of his tenure as General Manager, heading the Zone. The Zone recorded its best ever financial performance in the fiscal 2017-18, grossing Rs.13, 673 Cr of originating earnings.
South Central Railway was the recipient of the highest number of six performance efficiency shields in various disciplines amongst all Zones during the year 2017-18, thereby earning recognition with the highest honour, Pandit Gobind Vallabh Pant Shield for overall performance on Indian Railways. Secunderabad Railway Station bagged honour as the first Green Railway Station on Indian Railways, to earn the Confederation of Indian Industry – Indian Green Building Council Green Co Platinum Rating.
His tenure also marked the achievement of South Central Railway becoming the first Zone on Indian Railways to complete 100% LED lighting of its Railway Stations, Service buildings and Residential Quarters.
The Zone has also achieved the record for 100% elimination of unmanned railway level crossings (UMLC) by removing a record 269 UMLCs in the last two years. Thanks to his priority towards Safety. As General Manager, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav himself was bestowed with the Award for best transformation initiatives during the year from the Ministry of Railways.
Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav headed the committee constituted by the Railway Ministry to bring in reform in the issue concerning “Gang Men Tool Kit”, which came up with a high quality and comprehensive light weight kit weighing 3 kgs, thereby reducing the load of a 5 kg kit the Gang men used to carry on duty, thereby enhancing their efficiency.
He is also credited with bringing in many innovative practices to enhance productivity and ensure workforce welfare. He implemented the concept DIGIPAY railway stations at select major terminals, to offer all transactions on the Cashless mode, for the first time on Indian Railways. His intensive monitoring and review has given impetuous to fast execution of rail infrastructure projects on the Zone.
This has led to completion of last mile connectivity new railway line projects such as Peddapalli-Karimnagar-Nizamabad and Vishnupuram-Janpahad. A total of 186 kms of new railway line and 63 kms of doubling/tripling completed during his tenure. In addition, a record 700 route kms of railway line electrified in the last two years.
The General Manager accorded top most importance to cleanliness of railway stations and overall cleanliness under the Swachh Rail – Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, thereby enabling SCR earn recognition as the second best Zone on Indian Railways in terms of Cleanliness standards, achieved in 2017-18.
Mr Vinod Kumar Yadav earned goodwill on the Zone for initiating various positive HR practices. The Zone organized a mega Job Mela for children of Railway Employees, which was attended by 22,000 candidates out of which over 5000 were offered job placements. He also was instrumental in organizing Passport Melas exclusively for Railway families, at Railway premises.
For the first time ever on Indian Railways, leisure cum pleasure foreign tour was organized exclusively for Group D & C employees to Far East countries of Singapore and Malaysia of highly subsidized costs. The workplace aesthetics underwent a total makeover in various offices to give them a corporate driven look.
In terms of enhancing competence and skills, Shri Vinod Kumar Yadav led SCR to tie up with the prestigious Indian School of Business for a management training program, which has been attended by over 500 officers till date. The frontline staffs have been imparted training in the focus customer interaction areas under Project Saksham.
