The appointment of Ashwani Lohani (IRSME:1980) as chairman of the Railway Board is said to have upped the morale of railway officers. On his part, Lohani indicated right after his joining as CRB that he would leave nothing to chance to get the railways on the track in his 18 months short tenure. Hard on the heels of taking over the charge, he interacted with officers and staff of Rail Bhawan for an hour and did everything to fire up their enthusiasm. This is said to have removed at one shot the pestering and debilitating communication gap between the railway management and personnel. Officers said it was after a long, long time that the CRB had taken a meeting of the entire staff immediately after taking over the charge. Officers pointed out that it was refreshing to see the CRB asking in his opening note to stop the bouquet culture. Lohani suggested that if railwaymen wanted to give him respect, they should do it by their efficient delivery of railway services and operations. He made it a point that women welfare organizations should give up unnecessary business in the name of welfare. He advised that both juniors and seniors should work as a team. Everybody's opinion should be heard and respected. He asked officers to spend time with the staff, listen to them and try to resolve their problems. He called for stopping distribution of gifts during the festival season. Lohani underlined the need for field work. He pointed out that communication and interaction at the field level would bring officers in touch with track men and gang men who formed the backbone of railway operations. He said rules should be made or changed to facilitate works and not to stop them. Calling for maintaining cleanliness, he said it would improve efficiency. In this context, he recounted his own experience at Air India. Expressing his commitment to the 13 lakh employees, he said will frequently interact with Zonal & Divisional officers as well as all staff members by frequently writing to them. As CRB, Lohani's entire reputation is at stake. And perhaps no one realizes it more than him. His first few steps have earned him laurels. But he can't rest on them. He has to constantly excel himself to change the functioning and performance of the national transporter. Having turned around ITDC and putting Air India in the flying path, he is legitimately looked upon to do the same with the national transporter. Being a railway man and a highly qualified engineer, the job given to him is a great opportunity for him to take his reputation soaring to the final climax of his career. Good luck, Lohani!