Railway Ministers of India
Years | Railway Minister |
1947 | (Nov.) John Mathai (not formally designated the Minister for Railways) presents the first Railway budget for independent India |
1948-1952 | N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar; worked on consolidating the various railways into the zonal railways |
1952-1956 | Lal Bahadur Shastri; resigned in 1956 taking responsibility for three fatal railway accidents |
1956-1962 | Jagjivan Ram |
1962 | Sardar Swaran Singh |
1967?? | Kengal Hanumanthaiah (Note: Some sources suggest he was Railway Minister later, in 1971). Ram Sew Singh is also mentioned in some sources as a railway minister in 1966-1968, he may not have been a Cabinet minister for railways. |
1968 | Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha |
1969 | Govinda Menon Panampilly |
1970-1971 | Gulzari Lal Nanda Note: Kengal Hanumanthaiah may have been the Railway Minister briefly in 1971. |
1972-1973 | Tonse Ananth Pai |
1973-1975 | Lalit Narayan Mishra; killed by a bomb blast 2-Jan-1975, at the opening of a railway line in Samastipur. |
1975-1977 | Kamlapati Tripathi (again briefly in 1980?) |
1977-1979 | Prof. Madhu Dandavate |
1980-1981 | Kedar Pandey (Kamlapathi Tripathi briefly in 1980) |
(1981?) 1982-1984 | ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury. |
1984 | Bansi Lal; his was a brief stint during a reorganization of some ministries and government departments |
(1985?) 1984-1989 | Madhav Rao Scindia |
1989-1990 | George Fernandes |
1990-1991 | Jnaneshwar Mishra; very short tenure |
1991-1995 | C K Jaffer Sharief |
1995-1996 | Suresh Kalmadi (briefly), followed by Atal Behari Vajpayee also briefly, who held the Railways portfolio along with being PM. |
1996-1998 | Ram Vilas Paswan |
1998-1999 | Nitish Kumar |
2000 | Mamata Banerjee |
2001-2004 | Nitish Kumar |
2004-2009 | Laloo Prasad Yadav |
2009- | Mamata Banerjee |
