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The Ministry of Railways is a ministry in the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
, responsible for the country's rail transport. The
Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...
is the rail network operated and administered by the Railway Board constituted by the ministry. The ministry along with the Railway Board is housed inside
Rail Bhawan Rail Bhawan is the headquarters of the Indian Railways. It is located at Raisina Road, New Delhi, near the Sansad Bhavan (Parliament House). The office of Minister of Railways Sri, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw anMinister of State, Railways Shri Ravne ...
in
New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...
. It is headed by the
Minister of Railways A Ministry of Railways is a Cabinet department that exists or has existed in many Commonwealth states as well as others. It generally occurs in countries where railroad transportation is a particularly important part of the national infrastructur ...
. With more than 1.2 million employees, it is one of the world's
largest Large means of great size. Large may also refer to: Mathematics * Arbitrarily large, a phrase in mathematics * Large cardinal, a property of certain transfinite numbers * Large category, a category with a proper class of objects and morphisms (or ...
employers.


History

The first
railway track Railway track ( and UIC terminology) or railroad track (), also known as permanent way () or "P way" ( and Indian English), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, sleepers ( railroad ties in American ...
was operational in
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
in 1837 and the first passenger train ran in
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
in 1853. But the earlier railways were operated by private companies with the earliest being the
Madras Railway Madras Railway (Madras Railway Company) was one of the railway companies operating rail services in British India. In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made by the British. In 1835, the railway trac ...
established in 1845 and the
Great Indian Peninsular Railway The Great Indian Peninsula Railway (reporting mark GIPR) was a predecessor of the Central Railway (and by extension, the current state-owned Indian Railways), whose headquarters was at the Boree Bunder in Mumbai (later, the Victoria Terminu ...
incorporated in 1849. In October 1901, the Secretary of State for India in Council appointed Thomas Robertson as a special commissioner for Indian Railways to prepare a report on the administration of Indian Railways. In his report in 1903, Thomas recommended setting up of a three-member Railway Board headed by a chief commissioner. In March 1905, the railway branch of the
Public Works Department This list indicates government departments in various countries dedicated to public works or infrastructure. See also * Public works * Ministry or Board of Public Works, the imperial Chinese ministry overseeing public projects from the Tang ...
was transferred to the newly established railway board under the department of commerce and industry by the Indian Railway Board Act. In 1908, the set up was re-organized on the recommendations of the Railway Finance Committee (1908) by constituting the railway board headed by a president as a separate department. Pursuant to the Acworth committee's recommendations in 1921, the railway board was expanded to four members with the addition of a financial commissioner in 1924 apart from the chief commissioner, one commissioners responsible for ways and works, projects and stores and the other responsible for general administration, staff and traffic. In 1929, an additional member was added to the board and was assigned the responsibility for staff, so that the member in charge of traffic could focus solely on transport and commercial matters. In 1944, all the railway companies were taken over by the Government. The ministry of railways was part of the Ministry of Transport after the independence in 1947 and
John Mathai John Matthai CIE (1886–1959) was an Indian economist who served as Independent India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as well as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1 ...
served as its first minister from 1947 till 1948. On 22 September 1948, N. Gopalaswamy Ayyangar was appointed as the minister of the newly renamed Ministry of Railways and Transport. On 17 April 1957,
Jagjivan Ram Jagjivan Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), popularly known as Babuji, was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as a minister with various portfolios for over 30 years, making him the List of longest-serving members of the ...
became the first to head the standalone Minister of Railways. In December 1950, the Central Advisory Committee for Railways approved the plan for re-organising Indian Railways into six regional zones and re-constituting the railway board to four members with the senior-most functional member appointed the chairman of the board with no absolute over riding power. In October 1954, the chairman of the board was made responsible for decisions on technical and policy matters, with the status of a principal secretary to the
Government of India The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: Bhārata Sarakāra, legally the Union Government or Union of India or the Central Government) is the national authority of the Republic of India, located in South Asia, consisting of States and union t ...
with an additional member added. The board was expanded with an additional member responsible for electrical engineering in 1972 and a further member responsible for health in 1976. The Ministry of Railways was merged with the Ministry of Shipping and Transport and the Department of Civil Aviation on 25 September 1985 to form the
Ministry of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...
and
Bansi Lal Bansi Lal Legha (26 August 1927 – 28 March 2006), also known as Chaudhary Bansi Lal, was an Indian politician and independence activist, who served as the Minister of Defence of India and three-time Chief Minister of Haryana. He is also kno ...
, who served as the Railways Minister prior to the merger became the first holder of the new office. However, on 22 October 1986, the Ministry of Railways was again separated into an independent ministry and has been the same since then. In 2004, the board is expanded by the introduction of two new members responsible for signalling & telecom and for stores respectively. In December 2019, the
Union Cabinet The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...
decided to reduce the size of the board from eight to five.


Railway Budget

The first railway budget was presented in 1924. Since then, Railway budget was presented as a standalone budget every year before the union budget by the Railway Minister till 2016. The last Railway Budget was presented on 25 February 2016 and on 21 September 2016, Government of India approved merger of the rail and general budgets from 2017. The railway budget was estimated to be for the financial year 2023–24.


Organisation

The ministry has a
union minister The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...
and one or more
ministers of state Minister of state is a designation for a government minister, with varying meanings in different jurisdictions. In a number of European countries, the title is given as an honorific conferring a higher rank, often bestowed upon senior ministers ...
. The railway board reports to the union ministry with the directorates of traction,
engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...
,
traffic Traffic is the movement of vehicles and pedestrians along land routes. Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic laws and informal rules that may have developed over time to facilitate the orderly an ...
,
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, Railroad car#Freight cars, freight and Passenger railroad car, passenger cars (or coaches) ...
,
signalling A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...
,
materials A material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their ge ...
,
personnel Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...
, Railway Protection Force (RPF),
finance Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
,
health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
and
safety Safety is the state of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings The word 'safety' entered the English language in the 1 ...
reporting to the board.
Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...
is a statutory body that reports to
parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
and is under the
ownership Ownership is the state or fact of legal possession and control over property, which may be any asset, tangible or intangible. Ownership can involve multiple rights, collectively referred to as '' title'', which may be separated and held by dif ...
of ministry of railways. Indian Railways is further divided into 18 administrative zones (17 operational), headed by general managers who report to the board along with the heads of other institutions and undertakings owned by the Indian Railways. The railway board consists of a
chairman The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the gro ...
, four members responsible for operations, business development, human resources, infrastructure and finance respectively. Also part of the board are four director generals responsible for human resources, health, RPF and safety respectively.


Statutory Bodies/Public Sector Undertakings

*
Rail India Technical and Economic Service RITES Ltd, formerly known as Rail India Technical and Economic Service Limited, is an Indian public sector undertaking and engineering consultancy corporation, specializing in the field of transport infrastructure. Established in 1974 by the In ...
* Rail Land Development Authority * IRCON International *IRCON Renewable Power Limited * Rail Vikas Nigam Limited * Indian Railways Finance Corporation *
Centre for Railway Information Systems The Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) designs, develops, implements and maintains most of the important information systems of Indian Railways. It is under the ownership of Government of India and administrative control of the Mini ...


Society

*Indian Railway Welfare Organisation


Railway Budget

The first railway budget was presented in 1924. Since then, Railway budget was presented as a standalone budget every year before the union budget till 2016. The last Railway Budget was presented on 25 February 2016 and on 21 September 2016, Government of India approved merger of the rail and general budgets from 2017. The railway budget is estimated to be for the financial year 2023–24.


Railway ministers

The Minister of Railways (
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
:) is the head of the ministry and a member of the
union council of ministers The Union Council of Ministers is the Cabinet (government), principal executive organ of the Government of India, which serves to aid and advise the President of India in execution of their functions.Article 74 of the ''Constitution of India' ...
of India. The position of the Minister of Railways is usually held by a minister of cabinet rank and is often assisted by one or two junior Ministers of State.
John Mathai John Matthai CIE (1886–1959) was an Indian economist who served as Independent India's first Railway Minister and subsequently as well as India's Finance Minister, taking office shortly after the presentation of India's first Budget, in 1 ...
was the first Minister of Railways.
Lal Bahadur Shastri Lal Bahadur Shastri (; born Lal Bahadur Srivastava; 2 October 190411 January 1966) was an Indian politician and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1964 to 1966. He previously served as Minister ...
who served as the Minister of Railways and Transport from 1952 until 1956 became the second
Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and his chosen Union Council of Ministers, Council of Ministers, despite the president of ...
in 1964. Four prime ministers, namely
Rajiv Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi (20 August 1944 – 21 May 1991) was an Indian statesman and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the Assassination of Indira Gandhi, assassination of his mother, then–prime ...
,
P. V. Narasimha Rao Pamulaparthi Venkata Narasimha Rao (28 June 1921 – 23 December 2004) was an Indian independence activist, lawyer, and statesman from the Indian National Congress who served as the prime minister of India from 1991 to 1996. He was the first p ...
,
Atal Bihari Vajpayee Atal Bihari Vajpayee (25 December 1924 – 16 August 2018) was an Indian poet, writer and statesman who served as the prime minister of India, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, then for a period of 13 months from 1998 ...
(twice) and
Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (26 September 1932 – 26 December 2024) was an Indian economist, bureaucrat, academician, and statesman, who served as the prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He was the fourth longest-serving prime minister after Jaw ...
(twice) have briefly held the portfolio of the Minister of Railways during their premiership.
Mohsina Kidwai Mohsina Kidwai (born 1 January 1932) is an Indian politician and former union minister and parliamentarian from the Indian National Congress party belonging from the Barabanki district of Uttar Pradesh. She served as a union minister under Prim ...
was the first female to hold the charge of the ministry (as Minister of Surface Transport) while
Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 2 ...
is the first female to have served as the Minister of Railways.
Madhavrao Scindia Madhavrao Jiwajirao Scindia (10 March 1945 – 30 September 2001) was an Indian politician and minister in the Government of India. He was a member of the Indian National Congress. He was viewed as a potential future prime ministerial candidat ...
and Ram Naik are the only people to have served as Ministers of State for Railways with an Independent charge. Lalit Narayan Mishra is the only cabinet minister to die in office after being assassinated in a bomb blast in 1975, while Suresh Angadi is the only minister of state to die in office. C k Jaffer sheriff was the Railway minister from 1991 to 1995 made numerous progress in laying More railway lines he is from Indian national Congress karnataka The current Minister of Railways is
Ashwini Vaishnaw Ashwini Vaishnaw (born 18 July 1970) is an Indian politician, former Indian Administrative Service, IAS officer and a businessman serving as the 39th Minister of Railways (India), Minister of Railways, the 35th Ministry of Information and Broad ...
of the
Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
who has been in office since 7 July 2021 while V. Somanna and Ravneet Singh are the ministers of state for railways.


Cabinet Ministers

*Key: Assassinated or died in office *Note: MoS, I/C Minister of State (Independent Charge)


Ministers of State

*Key: Assassinated or died in office


Deputy Ministers


Criticism and controversies

On 14 February 2008, Westinghouse Air Brake, admitted to a US federal court of violating
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (FCPA) (, ''et seq.'') is a United States federal law that prohibits U.S. citizens and entities from Bribery, bribing foreign government officials to benefit their business interests. The FCPA is applic ...
(FCPA) regulations by making improper payments from its subsidiary Pioneer Friction based in
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
, to government officials of the Indian railway board to obtain and retain business with the Railway Board and curb taxes. On 3 May 2013, the CBI arrested then minister of railways Pawan Kumar Bansal's nephew, Vijay Singla for accepting an alleged bribe of from a middleman for the appointment of a particular person to the railway board. The railway board clarified that no rules had been broken during the appointment and suspended Mahesh, the person concerned.


References


External links

*
Official website of the Ministry of Railways
{{authority control Ministry of Railways
Railways Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to roa ...
India, Railways 1905 establishments in India
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...