Senior railway official Vivek Kumar Gupta, currently serving as General Manager (GM) of Western Railway, has been given additional charge of Central Railway following the demise of General Manager Vijay Kumar, officials said on Tuesday.
An officer of the 1988 batch of the Indian Railway Service of Engineers (IRSE), Gupta assumed charge of Western Railway in July. Before that, he served as managing director of the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), which is implementing India’s first bullet train project.
During his career, Gupta has held several key posts, including principal executive director (Gati-Shakti) at the railway board, where he coordinated multiple departments to streamline planning and execution of major projects under the PM Gati-Shakti initiative.
He has also served on both western and central railways as chief administrative officer (construction), chief track engineer, chief bridge engineer, and divisional railway manager (Bhusaval Division). As DRM, he focused on enhancing safety, infrastructure, and operational efficiency.
At Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC), Gupta played a key role in implementing the Mumbai Urban Transport Projects (MUTP I, II, and III) worth Rs 20,000 crore and initiated groundwork for the Rs 34,000 crore MUTP 3A. He worked closely with agencies such as the World Bank, AIIB, MMRDA, and CIDCO.
Known for his expertise in infrastructure development and project execution, Gupta is widely respected across the railway network. Under his leadership, Central Railway is expected to continue its focus on operational excellence and improved passenger experience.
Western Railway collects Rs 121.67 crore in fines between April and October in intense ticket-checking drive
To curb the menace of ticketless/irregular passengers and to ensure hassle-free and comfortable travel to all bona fide passengers, the WR is carrying out intensive ticket-checking drives frequently on Mumbai suburban, Mail/Express as well as passenger and holiday special trains.
The ticket-checking teams, under the supervision of senior commercial officers of WR, organised several drives during the period from April to October and recovered fines worth Rs 121.67 crore. This amount is 51 per cent higher than the collection made during the corresponding period last year as well as more than 14 per cent more over the target set by the Railway Board.
According to a press release issued by WR Chief Public Relations Officer Vineet Abhishek, in October itself, an amount of Rs 24.20 crore was recovered in 3.39 lakh cases from passengers for travelling without tickets and unbooked luggage. This is a 100 per cent increase over the previous year’s October figure, WR stated.
To prevent unauthorised entry on air-conditioned (AC) local trains, frequent surprise ticket-checking drives are being carried out. As a result, around 62,000 unauthorised passengers were fined Rs 2.02 crore between April and October. This amount is almost 76 per cent higher than the collection made during the corresponding period last year.
WR has appealed to passengers to travel with valid tickets.
