Below is the list of all railway ministers of India, appointed to head Indian Railways, the premier transport organization of the country, the largest rail network in Asia and the world’s second largest under one management:
Years Railway Minister
1947 (Nov.) John Mathai (not formally designated the Minister for Railways) presents the first Railway budget for independent India
1948-1952 N Gopalaswamy Ayyangar;...
more... worked on consolidating the various railways into the zonal railways
1952-1956 Lal Bahadur Shastri; resigned in 1956 taking responsibility for three fatal railway accidents
1956-1962 Jagjivan Ram
1962 Sardar Swaran Singh
1967?? Kengal Hanumanthaiah (Note: Some sources suggest he was Railway Minister later, in 1971). Ram Sew Singh is also mentioned in some sources as a railway minister in 1966-1968, he may not have been a Cabinet minister for railways.
1968 Cheppudira Muthana Poonacha
1969 Govinda Menon Panampilly
1970-1971 Gulzari Lal Nanda Note: Kengal Hanumanthaiah may have been the Railway Minister briefly in 1971.
1972-1973 Tonse Ananth Pai
1973-1975 Lalit Narayan Mishra; killed by a bomb blast 2-Jan-1975, at the opening of a railway line in Samastipur.
1975-1977 Kamlapati Tripathi (again briefly in 1980?)
1977-1979 Prof. Madhu Dandavate
1980-1981 Kedar Pandey (Kamlapathi Tripathi briefly in 1980)
(1981?) 1982-1984 ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury.
1984 Bansi Lal; his was a brief stint during a reorganization of some ministries and government departments
(1985?) 1984-1989 Madhav Rao Scindia
1989-1990 George Fernandes
1990-1991 Jnaneshwar Mishra; very short tenure
1991-1995 C K Jaffer Sharief
1995-1996 Suresh Kalmadi (briefly), followed by Atal Behari Vajpayee also briefly, who held the Railways portfolio along with being PM.
1996-1998 Ram Vilas Paswan
1998-1999 Nitish Kumar
2000 Mamata Banerjee
2001-2004 Nitish Kumar
2004-2009 Laloo Prasad Yadav
2009-2011 Mamata Banerjee
2011-2012 Dinesh Trivedi
2012-2012 Mukul Roy
2012-12 C.P.Joshi
2012-13 Pawan Kumar Bansal
2013-13 C.P.Joshi
2013-14 Mallkarjun Kharge
2014-14 D.V.Sadananda Gowda
2014-till date Suresh Prabhu
