Alok Johri: The engineer who revived a “dead project” in Raebareli appointed as Member (Mechanical) in Railway Board

Alok Johri, former Chief Administrative Officer of Raebareli-based Rail Coach Factory and 1977 batch Indian Railways Service of Mechanical Engineers, assumed charge on Tuesday as the new Member (Mechanical) of the Railway Board. According to a statement issued by Indian Railways on Tuesday, Johri was instrumental in reviving the Rail Coach Factory in Raebareli which was a “dead project” when…
he took over as its Chief Administrative Officer. Johri was the head of the Factory between April 2010 and June 2012. The project has been a politically sensitive one, as it falls under the constituency of the Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The foundation stone was laid by Mrs Gandhi on February 13, 2007, but there was a massive delay in acquisition of land. Before the last general elections, Mrs Gandhi could inaugurate only the construction of the factory boundary wall.
Before Johri took over as the Chief Administrative Officer of the coach factory, it was a “dead project”, according to railways’ own press statement. “As CAO of Rail Coach Factory, Raebareli, he (Johri) could launch production within one year of taking over the dead project in which he had to conceptualise and design the factory, strategise and implement construction including a full-fledged township along with simultaneously starting production,” the Indian Railways' statement issued on Tuesday said.
A product of Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering located at Jamalpur in Bihar, Johri later studied transport management, planning and control at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, and also attended customised training programmes for higher management at Hote E’tuit Commerciale, Paris, Cranfield University, UK and Stern Business School under New York University.
Johri has a distinguished career in railways for the last 36 years. Many of his colleagues still remember young Johri’s role as the deputy team leader of Indian Railway team to Vietnam, in 1984. Johri was then responsible for commissioning of locomotives from “knocked down” condition and ‘Transfer of Technology, by providing technical know-how, know-why and after sales service to Vietnamese Railways, according to the Railways’ statement.
Johri carried out many a remarkable job including refurbishing of Shatabdi and Rajdhani coaches in Jagadhari workshop. Before joining the Railway Board, he served as General Manager of North Central Railway (NCR) since June, 2012, and during that period, the zone won the prestigious Govind Vallabh Pant Shield for best performing zone. Some of his other key postings included Divisional Railway Manager, West Central Railway, Jabalpur, Chief Workshop Engineer, South Central Railway, Secunderabad, Chief Administrative Officer, COFMOW, New Delhi and Chief Mechanical Engineer, South Western Railway, Hubli.
Johri has also taught management and diesel locomotive technology as the Dean of his alma mater, Indian Railways Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (IRIMEE), Jamalpur.