Suneet Sharma on Friday took over the charge as the new chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Railway Board and ex-officio principal secretary to the central government.
The appointments committee of the Cabinet approved the appointment of Suneet Sharma as the chairman & CEO of the Railway Board.
Prior to this assignment, Suneet Sharma worked as the general manager of Eastern Railway, the ministry of railways said in a statement.
Sharma joined the Indian Railways in 1979 as a special class apprentice while he was studying engineering at IIT Kanpur.
A graduate in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, he has over 40 years of experience of serving in the Indian Railways in various capacities.
He has done stints in operational working, maintenance in sheds, depots and workshops.
He was chief workshop manager, Parel workshop in Mumbai where he was instrumental in manufacturing narrow gauge locomotives for hill railways.
He also restored old steam narrow gauge locomotive for the heritage Matheran line near Mumbai.
As ADRM, Mumbai CST, he is credited with increasing the services of the suburban network, which is considered the lifeline of Mumbai.
During the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, he was part of the team that managed the aftermath of the attacks at Mumbai CST, Central Railway.
As a DRM, Pune, he was instrumental in adding infrastructure which brought about operational efficiency.
As chief mechanical engineer diesel locomotive works at Varanasi, he was team leader for starting electric locomotive production.
Conversion of diesel to electric locomotives took place under his leadership in record time and for the first time anywhere in the world.
As general manager of the Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli, he set a record by doubling the out turn of the much required modern passenger coaches in one year.
As general manager, Eastern Railway, he took initiative in increasing the speed of goods trains to a record level and for completing a number of infrastructure projects of new lines and electrification which not only resulted in operational efficiency but developed the local areas.
He is known for bringing about systemic changes for ease of working and administrative reforms.
Suneet Sharma attended professional training in Germany and France and has done an advanced leadership and management course at Carnegie Mellon University in the USA.
He is an avid sportsman and has played Billiards and Snooker at the competitive level. He is also a keen golfer and a badminton and squash player, the ministry said in the statement.