New Delhi: The Centre Thursday appointed Jaya Verma Sinha as the new chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Railway Board, making her the first woman to hold the post in the ministry’s history.
In an order dated 31 August, the government said that Sinha will take charge on or after 1 September. Her tenure will end on 31 August, 2024. She will succeed outgoing chairperson and CEO Anil Kumar Lahoti.
A 1986-batch Indian Railway Traffic Service officer, Sinha is currently posted as member (Operations and Business Development) at the Railway Board. Prior to this, she was posted as an additional member, Traffic Transportation, Railway Board.
An alumnus of Allahabad University, Sinha has spent 35 years at the Indian Railways that manages the fourth largest national railway network in the world by size. She has worked on verticals such as vigilance, information technology and operations of the Indian Railways.
It was Sinha who had indicated the possibility of a sabotage that caused the triple-train tragedy in Odisha’s Balasore in June.
Former Railway Board Member (Traffic) Vinoo Mathur described Sinha as “a fine officer” who has spent her career in Railway operations, adding that she had also served as a railway advisor in the High Commission of India, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
“Her tenure is short but she is good at her professional work. Since she has spent most of her career in operations, she has a very good perception of what the requirements are, especially in terms of rolling stock and signalling works,” Mathur told ThePrint.
It is to note that Sinha was also the first woman to be appointed as principal chief operations manager of the South Eastern Railway, and has also served as principal chief commercial manager of the Northern Railways.
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