OREANDA-NEWS. Shri. V.K.Gupta has taken over as new Member Engineering, Railway Board & Ex-officio Secretary to the Govt. of India. He succeeds Shri S.K.Jain who has superannuated from Railway Services. Prior to this appointment, Shri V.K. Gupta was General Manager, Northern Railway from 15.6.12 to 12.5.2014.

Belonging to the Indian Railway Services of Engineering of 1976 batch, Shri V. K. Gupta has graduated from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh with a Bachelors in Civil Engineering. Shri Gupta has held several important positions viz. General Manager, North Central Railway, Secretary, Railway Board Advisor, Land & Amenities, Railway Board, Divisional Railway Manager, Northern Railway, Ferozepur, Chief Engineer, Construction, Northern Railway.

As General Manager, Northern Railway he holds the distinction of spearheading the zone to achieve significant benchmarks on various fronts. Under his able leadership, Northern Railway marked a noteworthy fiscal year 2013-14 carrying a record freight of 53.37 Million Tons notching incremental growth of more than 5 Million Tons over the previous fiscal year (48.01 Million Tons) marking 11% growth in Freight Loading which is the highest growth achieved in a financial year. Northern Railway retained the first position amongst all the Zonal Railways in terms of originating earnings registering Rs. 16787 crore for 2013-14, compared with Rs.14,289 crore last year notching an unprecedented growth of 16%. The share of Freight earnings increased to Rs.7309.41 crore during 2013-14 is more than Rs. 1,000 crore over last year. On the passenger services front, the zone retained its premier position in providing greater connectivity and enhanced passenger conveniences. The construction of the 11.2 Kms. long Tunnel T-80, being the longest transportation tunnel in Asia which pierces through the Pir Panjal mountain range and the commissioning of the Banihal -Qazigund section in the Kashmir Valley on 26.06.2013 was one of the defining moments of the zone. His tenure was also remarkable for completion of many important new lines, doubling & electrification projects. Adding momentum to the reform process, Shri V.K.Gupta brought out new organizational measures through the issue of compendium of Check-lists of Inspections for operational and managerial convenience of Officers and Supervisory staff. Other initiatives include the introduction of Legal Management Information Systems (LIMS) for better house-keeping of official records and updates of court cases on the zone.