Ram Karan Yadav has taken over as the new General Manager of Central Railway on 01st December 2023. 

He is a senior officer of the Indian Railways Service of Engineers (IRSE) of 1986 exam batch. Before taking over as General Manager, Central Railway, he was working as Director General, Indian Railways Institute Of Civil Engineering (IRICEN), Pune. He succeeds  Naresh Lalwani.

About Yadav’s Academic Background

Yadav did his BE (Civil) with Honors from IIT Roorkee in 1985 and received Uttar Pradesh P.W.D. Centenary Gold Medal and University Silver Medal for standing first in Transportation Engineering. He did his M.Tech (Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering) from IIT Delhi in 1987. He joined Railways in March 1988. He has a very rich and vast experience of having worked on Infrastructure projects. He has served on various posts in field as well as in Hd.Qrs. on Western Railway, North Eastern Railway, Central Railway, Eastern Railway, IRICEN Pune, RITES and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

During his tenure as Director General, IRICEN, Pune he was involved in Organising and planning training for officers of Civil Engineering, Preparation of Question papers promotion to Group B, Revision of Codes and Manuals of Civil Engineering.

Yadav’s Career Background

As Chief Administrative Officer (Construction) on Western Railway, highest ever commissioning of New Line, Gauge Conversion and doubling on WR in a year was done. Six projects of Gauge Conversion and Doubling which were pending since long time were completed. Work of 6th line between Khar and Borivali on Western Rly Mumbai suburban also picked up pace during his tenure. Work on major Station Development of Udhna, Sabarmati and Bhuj also commenced.

As Chief administrative Officer (Construction) on North Eastern Railway he has Commissioned 245 RKM of Railway Electrification, 53 km of Doubling with Electrification and 42 km of Gauge Conversion. Out of this 125 RKM of Electrification was commissioned in one go which is the highest ever achievement by any construction unit of Indian Railways. After critical review of various ongoing projects of Doubling and Gauge Conversion a saving of more than Rs 350 Cr was achieved. 

As Chief Project Director (Station Development) on Central Railway he was involved in development and approval of plan of Inter Modal Station at Ajni, Nagpur, Integration of station with Metro station at Ghatkopar, Remodelling of Thane, Kalyan and CSMT Mumbai Stations and monetisation of Railway land at Matunga station.

While working as Divisional Railway Manager, Bhusawal led a multidisciplinary team of more than 17000 staff. Apart from overall improvements in infrastructure and operational parameters he has taken removal of encroachments from Railway land as a mission and succeeded in removal of 80% of the encroachments from Railway land on the division. In one of the biggest drive of removal of encroachments on Indian Railways carried out from 15th to 17th Nov 2018, more than 3000 houses (hutment/Pucca houses) and approximately 350 shops were removed from Railway’s land at Bhusawal and more than 120 acres of precious land was reclaimed. In March, 2019 he received Leadership & Performance Excellence award from Minister of Railways for providing strong leadership and performance excellence directed towards improving delivery on Indian Railways as Divisional Railway Manager, Bhusawal.

While working as head of the Property Business Department of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) total earning of Property Business Cell increased from Rs 158.88 Cr (during year 2014-15)  to Rs 230.78 Cr (during year 2016-17) i.e. 45% increase.  Earning (NFR) of Airport Line increased from Rs 10.27 Cr (during year 2014-15) to Rs 40 Cr (during year 2016-17), thus taking out operationally loss making Airport Metro Line to operationally profit making line.

He has also worked as Chief Engineer (Construction) on Eastern Railway and executed New Line and Doubling works. As GM/Urban Transport/RITES Mumbai he has carried out feasibility study of Elevated Corridor along Western Railway sub-urban routes. He has worked as Independent Safety Officer in execution of Mumbai Metro One. 

At IRICEN Pune as Senior faculty he has conducted various courses on Contract and Arbitration at Institute as well as on various zonal Railways. He was also involved in organising training courses for civil engineers of Indian Railways; delivering lectures on various subjects like Long Welded Rails, Curves, Track Maintenance, Rehabilitation of Bridges, Mechanised Track Maintenance, Contract & Arbitration; writing articles and editing articles for IRICEN Journal and organizing and conducting track seminar for Chief Track Engineers of Indian Railways.

Yadav’s Achievements

He has received General Manager’s award in 1999 for excellent planning and execution of 12m wide foot over bridge (FOB) with PSC girders at Dadar Station which is the widest FOB on Railway system. Also during his tenure as Senior Divisional Engineer (Co-ord.), Pune Division has received Engineering Efficiency Shield of Central Railway in 2004 for excellent planning and execution of Engineering Works on the division.

He has attended Executive Leadership Program (for DRMs) at SDA Bocconi School of Management, Milan, Italy and  Advance Management Training Program at INSEAD Singapore and ICLIF, Malaysia. He has also attended Strategic Management Work shop at ISB Hyderabad and Leadership Enhancement Development Program at ISB Mohali.