Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani appointed new Railway Board chairman

Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India Ashwani Lohani has been appointed as the new chairman of the Railway Board.

File photo

New Delhi: Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of Air India Ashwani Lohani was on Wednesday named as the new chairman of the Railway Board following the resignation of AK Mittal.

Holder of a Limca record, Lohani is an IRSME (Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers) officer.

Earlier today, Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu offered to resign from his post over the recent train accidents in Uttar Pradesh. 

In a series of tweet, Prabhu wrote, "I am extremely pained by the unfortunate accidents, injuries to passengers and loss of precious lives. It has caused me deep anguish."

"I met the Hon'ble Prime Minister @narendramodi taking full moral responsibility. Hon’ble PM has asked me to wait," he wrote further.

The statement comes after two incidents of the train derailment in Uttar Pradesh within a short span of five days.

Prabhu offered to resign hours after 10 coaches and engine of the Delhi-bound Kaifiyat Express derailed in Auraiya district of Uttar Pradesh. As many as 74 passengers were injured in the train accident.

On the evening of August 19, at least 23 people were killed and over 40 others injured when 14 coaches of Puri-Haridwar-Kalinga Utkal Express derailed, with one of them crashing into a house adjacent to the track, in Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh's Muzaffarnagar district.