New Delhi: For the first time in its history, Railway Board is all set to have a member to focus on safety issues of the national transporter exclusively, sources in the ministry said.
A parliamentary panel had in August last year recommended the need for such a post to sharpen the focus on safety in the backdrop of recurring accidents, and cautioned the Railway against its reluctance to set up the position.
"Such an attitude reflects the Ministry's unwillingness to relinquish age-old practices and procedures," it had said.
The sources in the ministry said that Railway Minister Piyush Goyal has already approved the creation of the Member (Safety) post, along with two others - Member (Materials Management) and Member (Signalling and Telecom) - to expand the Board, which had five members, to eight members. The ministry will soon move the Cabinet with the proposal for approval.
A railway panel for safety - the Kakodkar Commission - in its report had recommended the creation of an independent statutory Railway Safety Authority, with enough powers to have a safety oversight on the operational mode of Railways. It was in fact against the vesting of all powers in the Board itself.
Months before the approval for the creation of the post, the senior-most safety officer, Advisor, Safety, who used to report to Member, Traffic, started reporting to Chairman, Railway Board, indicating an impending restructuring, the sources said.