Ministry of Railways

Indian government ministry responsible for rail transport

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March 2025 Indian Railways had 0.13 million women employees, including 2,162 female loco pilots, 794 female train managers, and 1,699 female station masters, marking a significant milestone in gender diversity within the organization.
2023 At least 313 people died in 40 train accidents during the 2023-24 period.
June 2022 First private passenger train was flagged off from Coimbatore.
2021 New AC 3-tier economy coaches were introduced, featuring an improved design that accommodates 83 berths per coach with enhanced facilities.
2021 Ashwini Vaishnaw becomes Railway Minister, serving from 2021 to present.
July 7 2021 Raosaheb Danve appointed as Minister of State for Railways.
2020 Initiated plans to become a net-zero carbon emission railway by 2030, including implementing rainwater harvesting, solar-powered trains, and sustainable lighting.
2020 Group D employees were merged into Group C, restructuring the employee classification system of Indian Railways.
May 2020 Resumed passenger services in a phased manner after the COVID-19 shutdown.
March 2020 Announced a nationwide shutdown of passenger services due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while continuing freight operations for essential goods.
2019 Launched the Vande Bharat Express, a semi-high speed self-propelled train-set.
2019 Indian Railways reported zero passenger deaths due to accidents for the first time in its history, marking a significant safety milestone.
2019 Completed removal of all unstaffed level crossings.
2019 South Coast Railway (SCoR) was proposed to be created as the eighteenth zone, though not yet fully operational.
December 2019 The Union Cabinet decided to reduce the size of the railway board from eight to five members.
May 31 2019 Suresh Angadi appointed as Minister of State for Railways during Modi's second term.
2018 Indian Railways operated 13,523 passenger trains daily and carried 8.44 billion passengers during this year.
2018 Semi-high speed self-propelled Vande Bharat train-set was rolled out from Integral Coach Factory. Coach numbering system was also changed to indicate year of manufacture and sequence number.
2017 Piyush Goyal takes charge as Railway Minister, serving from 2017 to 2021.
March 31 2017 Announced a target to completely electrify the entire rail network by 2023.
September 21 2016 Government of India approved the merger of rail and general budgets, effective from 2017, ending the tradition of a separate Railway Budget.
February 25 2016 Last standalone Railway Budget was presented before the proposed budget merger.
2015 First Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) powered trains were rolled out.
2015 The last First Class coach was de-commissioned from normal express trains, marking the end of this traditional travel class.
2014 Suresh Prabhu becomes Railway Minister, serving from 2014 to 2017.
May 27 2014 Manoj Sinha becomes Minister of State for Railways under Narendra Modi's first government.
May 27 2014 D. V. Sadananda Gowda becomes Railway Minister in Narendra Modi's first government, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party.
May 3 2013 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Vijay Singla, nephew of then Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, for allegedly accepting a bribe related to a railway board appointment. The railway board subsequently clarified no rules were broken and suspended an employee named Mahesh.

This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Ministry of Railways (India), Indian Railways organisational structure & Indian Railways, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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