The Government of India on Thursday (August 31) appointed Jaya Verma Sinha, a member of the Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS), as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Railway Board.
Sinha, who previously held the position of Member (Operations & Business Development) on the Railway Board, is now the first woman to lead one of the country's most important transportation institutions.
The appointment will be effective from 1 September till her superannuation.
"The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the appointment of Smt. Jaya Verma Sinha, Indian Railway Management Services (IRMS), Member (Operations & Business Development), Railway Board to the post of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Railway Board in the Apex scale [Pay Level -17 as per 7th CPC] for a period w.e.f. the date of assumption of charge on or after 01.09.2023 till the date of her superannuation and her re-employment on the post w.e.f. 01.09.2023 till 31.08.2024 on usual terms and conditions, or until further orders, whichever is earlier," the notice said.
Sinha is also the first woman Chairman of the Railway Board. Vijaylaxmi Vishwanathan was the Railway Board's first woman member. Sinha, an Indian Railway Traffic Service official from the 1988 batch, is currently employed as a Member (Operations & Business Development) Railway Board.
She will take over as chairman of the board at a time when the Indian Railways has received a record budgetary allocation from the government.
The Union Budget 2023-24 includes a capital outlay of Rs 2.4 lakh crore for Indian Railways. This is the highest allocation ever made to the national transporter, and it follows the trend set last year, with a gross budgetary support of Rs 1.37 lakh crore in fiscal 2022-23.