Minister of Railways
Emblem of India
Incumbent Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw since 7 July 2021
Ministry of Railways
Member of	Cabinet of India
Appointer	President on the advice of the Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	John Mathai
Formation	15 August 1947

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The Minister of Railways is the head of the Ministry of Railways of the Government of India.

List of Railway Ministers

No.	Portrait	Name	Term of office			Prime Minister	Political party
1		John Mathai	15 August 1947	22 September 1948	1 year, 38 days	Jawaharlal Nehru	Indian National Congress
2		N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar	22 September 1948	13 May 1952	3 years, 234 days
3		Lal Bahadur Shastri	13 May 1952	7 December 1956	4 years, 208 days
4		Jagjivan Ram	7 December 1956	10 April 1962	5 years, 124 days
5		Swaran Singh	10 April 1962	21 September 1963	1 year, 164 days
6		H. C. Dasappa	21 September 1963	8 June 1964	261 days
7		S. K. Patil	9 June 1964	12 March 1967	2 years, 276 days	Lal Bahadur Shastri Indira Gandhi
8		C. M. Poonacha	13 March 1967	14 February 1969	1 year, 338 days	Indira Gandhi
9		Ram Subhag Singh	14 February 1969	4 November 1969	263 days
10		Panampilly Govinda Menon	4 November 1969	18 February 1970	106 days
11		Gulzarilal Nanda	18 February 1970	17 March 1971	1 year, 27 days
12		K. Hanumanthaiah	18 March 1971	22 July 1972	1 year, 126 days
13		T. A. Pai	23 July 1972	4 February 1973	196 days
14		Lalit Narayan Mishra	5 February 1973	2 January 1975	1 year, 331 days
15		Kamalapati Tripathi	11 February 1975	23 March 1977	2 years, 40 days
16		Madhu Dandavate	26 March 1977	28 July 1979	2 years, 124 days	Morarji Desai	Janata Party
(13)		T. A. Pai	30 July 1979	14 January 1980	168 days	Charan Singh	Janata Party (Secular)
(15)		Kamalapati Tripathi	14 January 1980	12 November 1980	303 days	Indira Gandhi	Indian National Congress
17		Kedar Pandey	12 November 1980	14 January 1982	1 year, 63 days
18		Prakash Chandra Sethi	15 January 1982	2 September 1982	230 days
19		A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury	2 September 1982	31 December 1984	2 years, 120 days	Indira Gandhi Rajiv Gandhi
20		Bansi Lal (Minister of Transport from 25 Sept 1985 onwards)	31 December 1984	24 June 1986	1 year, 175 days	Rajiv Gandhi
21		Mohsina Kidwai (As Minister of Transport)	24 June 1986	21 October 1986	119 days
22		Madhavrao Scindia (Independent Charge)	22 October 1986	2 December 1989	3 years, 41 days
23		George Fernandes	2 December 1989	10 November 1990	343 days	V. P. Singh	Janata Dal
24		Janeshwar Mishra	21 November 1990	21 June 1991	212 days	Chandra Shekhar	Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya)
25		C. K. Jaffer Sharief	21 June 1991	17 October 1995	4 years, 118 days	P. V. Narasimha Rao	Indian National Congress
26		Ram Vilas Paswan	1 June 1996	19 March 1998	1 year, 291 days	H. D. Deve Gowda I. K. Gujral	Janata Dal (United Front)
27		Nitish Kumar	19 March 1998	5 August 1999	1 year, 139 days	Atal Bihari Vajpayee	Samata Party
28		Ram Naik	6 August 1999	13 October 1999	69 days		Bharatiya Janata Party
29		Mamata Banerjee	13 October 1999	15 March 2001	1 year, 153 days		All India Trinamool Congress
(27)		Nitish Kumar	20 March 2001	22 May 2004	3 years, 63 days		Janata Dal (United)
30		Lalu Prasad Yadav	22 May 2004	22 May 2009	5 years, 0 days	Manmohan Singh	Rashtriya Janata Dal
(29)		Mamata Banerjee	22 May 2009	19 May 2011	1 year, 362 days		All India Trinamool Congress
31		Dinesh Trivedi	12 July 2011	19 March 2012	251 days
32		Mukul Roy	20 March 2012	22 September 2012	186 days
33		C. P. Joshi	22 September 2012	28 October 2012	36 days		Indian National Congress
34		Pawan Kumar Bansal	29 October 2012	10 May 2013	194 days
(33)		C. P. Joshi	13 May 2013	14 June 2013	32 days
35		Mallikarjun Kharge	17 June 2013	26 May 2014	343 days
36		D. V. Sadananda Gowda	26 May 2014	9 November 2014	167 days	Narendra Modi	Bharatiya Janata Party
37		Suresh Prabhu	9 November 2014	3 September 2017	2 years, 298 days
38		Piyush Goyal	3 September 2017	7 July 2021	3 years, 307 days
39		Ashwini Vaishnaw	7 July 2021	Incumbent	1 year, 165 days
If the office of Minister of Railways is vacant for any length of time, it automatically comes under the charge of the Prime Minister.

List of Ministers of State

Ministers of State in the Ministry of Railways

Minister of state	Portrait	Political party		Term		Years
Manoj Sinha		Bharatiya Janata Party		26 May 2014	30 May 2019	5 years, 4 days
Rajen Gohain				5 July 2016	30 May 2019	4 years, 329 days
Suresh Angadi				30 May 2019	23 September 2020	1 year, 116 days
Raosaheb Danve				7 July 2021	Incumbent	1 year, 165 days
Darshana Jardosh				7 July 2021	Incumbent	1 year, 165 days