Cabinet approves Ashwani Lohani's appointment as of Air India

Ashwani Lohani to be Air India's new Chief Managing Director

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved the appointment of Ashwani Lohani as the new Chief Managing Director of Air India. Lohani was retired from his previous role as Railway Board Chairman on January 1.

Lohani was appointed chairman of the Railway Board after AK Mital resigned in August last year following the derailment of the Kaifiyat Express near Auriya in Uttar Pradesh.

A 1980-batch officer of the railways' mechanical service, Lohani featured in the Limca Book of Records in 2007 for having four engineering degree equivalents in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, metallurgical engineering and electronics & telecommunication engineering from Institution of Engineers, India.

He also set a Guinness World Record in 1998 for operating the oldest working steam locomotive in the world.

Lohani successfully piloted the nomination of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway as a UNESCO world heritage site. He was decorated with the railway national award for outstanding performance in 1996.

Soon after taking over, he had said that safety and station modernisation would be his priority along with cleanliness, eradication of VIP culture and corruption.

During his tenure, Lohani managed to create a direct link between the railways' top bosses in Delhi and employees on the ground. He is credited with empowering officers at the divisional and zonal level.

Lohani took over at a time when two back-to-back accidents shook the railways. Under him, the national transporter achieved its best safety record in 35 years -- at 73 accidents. The year 2017-2018 had recorded 100 accidents.

Air India