Tata Sons chairman emeritus Ratan Tata has been appointed as the head of an innovation council of Indian Railways called 'Kayakalp', the government said on Thursday.
 
 Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu constituted the council and appointed Tata to head it, an official statement said.
 
 The purpose of the council will be to recommend innovative methods and processes for the improvement, betterment and transformation of Indian Railways.
 
 "This council would be a standing body and would interact with all stakeholders and other interested parties," it said.
 
 It would initially also have as members Shiv Gopal Mishra, general secretary of the All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF), and M. Raghavaiah, general secretary of the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR), the two recognised federations representing the railway employees.
 
 The other members would be announced in due course.
 
 Prabhu in his railway budget speech on February 26 had said: "Every dynamic and thriving organisation needs to innovate and re-invent its practices."
 
 "In accordance with the vision of the prime minister for innovation, technology development and manufacturing, the Indian Railways intends to set up an innovation council called 'Kayakalp' for the purpose of business re-engineering and introducing a spirit of innovative in railways."