One chartered accountant by profession, Piyush Goyal, has replaced another, Suresh Prabhu, in the Rail Bhawan. The country, however, hopes the days of finance-centric administration of the Railways will be over and the new man will strike a balance between operations, finance and infrastructure.

Sources said the biggest challenge for the new minister would be to bring the operations back on track to ensure that safety becomes the paramount concern. “For that you need better infrastructure, which requires finances. So the new minister would need to be imaginative to strike a balance between the three factors for better results and mishap-free running of trains,” a senior official said.

CA Piyush Goyal, elevated to the Cabinet rank, is taking charge from Prabhu after a spate of train accidents. Prabhu has been shifted to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

Known for his clean image, especially after having overseen a scam-free auction of coal blocks, Goyal, who held multiple portfolios (as an MoS) dealing with the entire energy basket (barring petroleum and gas), is largely credited with having brought about a turnaround in coal production, ending days of domestic short supplies that had led to higher imports. 

In the power sector, Goyal has managed the difficult task of improving accountability and viability in transmission and tariffs through the Udaan scheme.

However, the new assignment has a different challenge to meet, as the Ministry of Railways directly deals with people and the General Election is just two years away. He not only has to deliver many of Modi’s dream projects like electrification, high-speed trains and green corridors, but also reduce, if not eliminate, accidents substantially. He also has to find a way to do all this without any substantial rise in costs. #casansaar (Source - PTI,  Tribuneindia)