Idea by Lal Bahadur Shastri
After freeing the nation from the centuries' long British rule, India was all out to prove its worth by standing on its own and make all round developments for its citizens.
Railway was no exception. It was, in fact, in the forefront. Properly trained manpower was, however, a problem area. Establishing a premier Institution in this part was, thus, thought of.
Under the British rule, BB&CI Railway Traffic School at Ajmer was the origin of this Institute.
Though exact date of its commencement is not known, with the records available, it was there in the campus of Bisset Institute Ajmer, from the earliest decade of the 20th century till 1952 when shifted to Udaipur at an accommodation owned by the royal family of Udaipur near Gulab Bagh, which is now a Heritage Hotel, known as Garden Hotel, and a Centre for exhibiting Antique Cars from all over the world.
As a matter of fact, it was the then Railway Minister, the legendary Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri himself floated the idea first for establishing a multi disciplinary Institution of high standards to provide qualitative training to railwaymen from various streams.
The efforts of leading lights of those days, like Freedom Fighter Master Balvant Singh Mehta, longest serving Chief Minister of Rajasthan Shri Mohanlal Sukhadia and various others also paved the way for getting the sanction for establishing the Institute in Udaipur.
And the result was a well planned, well laid out and well equipped Institution in a lush green surrounding to train various categories of railway employees, in the heart of Udaipur City to be inaugurated by Dr.Rajendra Prasad, the then President of Indian Republic on 9th October 1956, when Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri himself was also present, among various other luminaries.
The construction of the magnificent structure was completed in just 18 months from the date of laying of its foundation stone on 25th March 1955 by the then Maharana of Udaipur late Shri Bhupal Singh, who also, it is told, was a force behind in getting the Institute established in its present campus.
Earlier, the Institute was under the administrative control of Western Railway, but on account of bifurcation of Zonal Railways and creation of new Zones, the administrative control now lies with the newly created North Western Railway.