Rajesh Kaushik Selected for Deputation to NHSRCL as AGM (Safety)

Rajesh Kaushik, presently serving as Deputy Chief Mechanical Engineer/Freight at Northern Railway, has been selected for deputation to the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited as Additional General Manager (Safety) in New Delhi, for a period of five years.

NHSRCL is the special purpose vehicle building India's first bullet train corridor between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, and its safety function carries particular weight given the corridor's higher operating speeds and the entirely new signalling, rolling stock and civil engineering standards involved compared with conventional Indian Railways operations.

Kaushik's move from a freight operations role at Northern Railway to a dedicated safety charge at a high-speed rail project marks a shift from conventional railway operations to a greenfield project still in its construction and commissioning phase, where safety protocols are being established rather than merely enforced.

An officer of the Indian Railway Service of Mechanical Engineers, Kaushik brings operational railway experience to a project that draws heavily on Japanese Shinkansen technology and standards, requiring safety officers to reconcile Indian regulatory requirements with imported technical specifications.

His five-year deputation tenure is longer than the standard three-year central deputation term, reflecting NHSRCL's practice of offering extended tenures to retain technical expertise through the corridor's construction and initial operational phases.

As AGM (Safety), Kaushik will oversee safety certification and protocol development for a corridor still under construction, work that will shape the operating standards for India's first high-speed rail line once services begin.

The deputation takes effect as per the selection order and runs for five years.