Meet Jaya Varma Sinha, the Railway Board’s first woman Chairperson and CEO

The railway board’s first woman Chairperson and CEO Jaya Varma Sinha loves challenges. Despite securing a good rank in the civil services examination, she chose to join the Indian Railway Traffic Service in 1988, a male bastion at the time and which, to date, requires its staff to be on call around the clock. In a career spanning more than 35 years, the 60-year-old has worked in several areas spanning operations, commercial, IT and vigilance.

Over the years, Sinha has received many accolades for her work. She recently made headlines for her crisis communication skills after the Balasore (Odisha) train crash that killed 295 and injured over 1,200.

As Railway Board chief, she must increase freight earnings by making a modal shift in cargo transportation, operationalise the entire Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC) and use the full budgetary support of over Rs 2.4 lakh crore on improving infrastructure. “She will equally be concerned about providing a differentiated product that can wean customers away from airlines. Safety, punctuality and service delivery focussed on customer convenience will be the fulcrum in her bid to turn around the railways,” avers Jagannarayan Padmanabhan, Senior Director at CRISIL Market Intelligence.

It’s not going to be easy for Sinha as the railways faces the twin tasks of ensuring the highest safety standards and maximising revenues. “Particularly, after the Balasore accident there are question marks on safety. Sinha needs to put the systems through thorough scrutiny to restore public confidence,” says expert Lalit Chandra Trivedi, who retired as General Manager of East Central Railway. “The Ministry of Railways has targeted to double freight loading in five years’ time to 3,000 million tonnes. That requires CAGR of 15 per cent.”

Improved route capacity, network debottlenecking, average train speeds, signalling and addition of key infrastructure are further concerns.

Given her stellar track record, Sinha, who was due for retirement in September, has been given a one-year extension by the government. And she is expected to deliver.

@manishpant22