Venkatarama Sarma Santhanam

Venkatarama Sarma Santhanam (84) passed away at home on December 28 th , 2022 surrounded

by his family.

Santhanam was born to Sri. K. Venkatarama Sarma and Alamelu and grew up in Pudukkottai,

India. The 5 th of 7 children, he was very mischievous and loved to play cricket. He had a deep

love for Carnatic music and was an excellent singer with great “manodharma” (improvisation).

He graduated as a gold medalist from the Alagappa Chettiar College of Engineering in Karaikudi,

with a degree in Electrical Engineering and won an award from Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the

first Prime Minister of Independent India. He then joined the Indian Railways as an Electrical

Engineer. His decorated career included design and commission of an electric locomotive,

electrification of railway routes as General Manager of Central Organization for Railway

Electrification, leadership of the vast network of the Indian Railways as Member Electrical of

Railway Board, and ex officio secretary to the Government of India. After retirement from the

Indian Railways, he joined the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation as the Chief Consultant for

Electrical Engineering and was instrumental in the design and deployment of the metro system.

Through the course of his career, he oversaw the modernization of the entire Indian Railways

and the Delhi Metro, two of the largest public transportation systems of their kind in the world.

His staunch opposition to corruption of any kind often put him in difficult and sometimes

dangerous situations, but allowed him to serve as a leader with utmost integrity. He was

beloved by those that worked closely with him, and was a role model to generations of officers

in the Railways.

A doting husband and a loving father and grandfather, he leaves behind his wife of 54 years

(Iravathy), his son and daughter-in-law (Nagaraj and Anjali), daughter and son-in-law (Lakshmi

and Vasan), four grandchildren (Aditi, Siddharth, Gopal, and Jaanvi), and a grand-puppy

(Pickles). He also leaves behind his beloved older sister, Bhavani, and younger sisters Vicchu

and Junior, and a large close-knit extended family.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations in his memory to the American Heart Association or

Red Cross (c/o Lakshmi Santhanam: Santhanam.Lakshmi@gmail.com).