About Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti:
Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti has been appointed as General Manager, Central Railway since 30.07.2021. Prior to joining as General Manager, he was Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Northern Railway. He is a 1984 batch Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) officer with Master of Engineering (Structures) from IIT Roorkee (erstwhile University of Roorkee).
Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti has varied experience in Railways. He joined the Central Railway and worked in various capacities over Nagpur, Jabalpur (Now on West Central Railway) and Bhusaval divisions and Central Railway headquarters from 1988 to 2001. He has also worked as Officer on Special Duty to Member Engineering, Railway Board, Chief Engineer (Construction), Northern Railway, Executive Director (Track Machines), Railway Board and Principal Chief Engineer of North Central Railway.
He has played a key role in planning for development of New Delhi station as a world class station including commercial development of land and air space and development of Public Private Partnership model.
Interview Insights:
Rail Analysis: Please share with us about your journey in the Railway sector? How did you get started in this industry?
Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti: I took UPSC’s prestigious Engineering Services Exam in 1984 and opted for Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE) which is a premier government service for civil engineers. Through my journey in Indian Railways, I got many challenging assignments over Central Railway (including present West Central Railway), Northern Railway and Railway Board. I took over as General Manager, Central Railway from 30th July 2021. Prior to joining as General Manager, I was working as Chief Administrative Officer (Construction), Northern Railway.
I was allotted Central Railway and worked in various capacities over Nagpur, Jabalpur (Now on West Central Railway) and Bhusaval division and Central Railway headquarters from 1988 to 2001. Thereafter, I have worked in various capacities at Railway Board and Northern Railway. Significant among these were my stints as Officer on Special Duty to Member Engineering, Railway Board, Chief Engineer (Construction), Northern Railway, Executive Director (Track Machines), Executive Director Civil Engineering (Planning), Railway Board and Principal Chief Engineer of North Central Railway.
Some of the key projects that I handled were planning for development of New Delhi station as a world class station including commercial development of land and air space and development of Public Private Partnership model; planning and construction of a new directional terminal in Delhi at Anand Mbar to decongest Delhi; and development of the iconic second entry to New Delhi station. As Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) and Chief Engineer (Construction) executed several infrastructural projects of new lines, doubling, yard remodelling & important bridges etc.
In my stint as Executive Director Civil Engineering (Planning), Railway Board, I was part of the team formulating policy on safety, maintenance, rehabilitation and upgradation of permanent way, policy on operation of higher axle loads and higher speeds on track. As member of committee on Track Maintenance Criteria, we brought about a paradigm shift in track maintenance by laying down objective maintenance criteria for track maintenance based on electronic track measurements to make the track maintenance regime efficient and effective. A substantial part of my career has also been in mechanisation and automation of track maintenance. During my stint as Executive Director (Track Machines), a comprehensive Master Plan was drawn for complete mechanisation of track maintenance which became the foundation for further mechanisation on Indian Railways.
As Divisional Railway Manager, Lucknow, I dealt with several challenges related to passenger and freight operations and infrastructure upgradation on Lucknow Division.
Rail Analysis: As the current General Manager of Central Railway, we would like you to share with us some of the highlights & major achievements? What have been some of the challenges during the same time and how did you manage to resolve them?
Shri Anil Kumar Lahoti: Transportation by rail is the safest, quickest and the most environment – friendly option available for customers. In-addition Central Railway’s efforts in setting up of Business Development Units in all its divisions have provided easy access to businessmen, traders and dealers to transport their goods quickly.
Towards strengthening infrastructure, Central Railway completed 177.11 route km of new lines, doubling and multitracking in 2021-22. Hon’ble Prime Minister dedicated the Thane-Diva 5th and 6th new lines and flagged-off inaugural run of 36 additional suburban services.
Continuing the infrastructure development in current financial year, 71.70 track kms of doubling and 3rd line work have been commissioned on Narkher-Kalambha. Ankai Killa- Manmad, Rajewadi-Jejuri-Daundaj and Washimbe Bhigwan sections.
Towards 100% electrification of tracks, 339 RKM of railway electrification was completed in financial year 2021-22. Further, In first four months of 2022-23, CR has completed electrification of 117.67 Track KM. Golden Quadrilateral routes on Central Railway are now 100% electrified.
Safety is our number one priority. We eliminated 90 level crossings in 2021-2022, the best performance of all times and target to eliminate another 75 level crossings In 2022-23. Electronic Interlocking has been commissioned at 6 stations this year for better and safer train operations. For better passenger safety, 83 rakes have so far been converted to LHB coaches and the remaining are being converted gradually.
For enhanced passenger experience, Vistadome coach has recently been attached to Pragati Express and Pune-Secunderabad Shatabdi Express. With this, five of Central Railway’s trains now provide passengers with a breath-taking view of valleys and natural beauty through Vistadome coaches. For the convenience of passengers, 1433 special trains are already notified in 2022-23 for various destinations which include 886 summer specials, 206 Ganpati Specials and 124 Ashadi Specials.
Central Railway also registered best ever performance in 2021-22 in improving safety and reliability of track by effective use of Ballast Cleaning Machine (BCM), removal of Permanent Speed Restrictions, Complete Track Renewal (CTR), Through Turnout Removal (TTR). CTR of 441 units and TTR of 658 units was achieved in the year 2021-22.
During 2021-22, Central Railway achieved best ever freight loading of 76.16 million tonnes in any financial year. This year too, CR achieved best ever freight loading of 26.77 million tonnes in first 4 months. We achieved highest ever parcel revenue of Rs.322.82 crores in 2021-22 and in April to July 2022, parcel revenue of Rs. 84.09 crores has already been registered. Business Development Units of Central Railway have played an important role in these achievements. Central Railway’s intensive ticket checking drives resulted in detecting 35.36 lakh ticketless & irregular travelers with penalty of Rs.214.14 crore In 2021-22, highest among all zonal Railways. In 2022-23, Central Railway has continued its drive and detected 18.37 lakh cases, and levied a penalty of Rs.126.18 crores. In our efforts towards scrap free premises, highest ever revenue of Rs.530.34 crore was generated in 2021-22, and followed up with record revenue of Rs.135.57 crore for April to July in the current financial year.
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