In the first general elections of the Indian Republic, the Congress was returned to power with a huge majority. Shastri, who was the general secretary of the party at that time, had complete control over the selection of party candidates. But he did not contest the elections.
The Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, however, did not wish to leave such an able and honest man outside the government. He persuaded him to seek election to the Rajya Sabha. He won the election and was appointed the Railway Minister.
At that time there were four classes in the railways: first, second, inter and third. The first class compartments offered extreme luxury while the travails of passengers in the third class was beyond description. Shastri made relentless efforts to remove the wide disparity between the first and third class compartments. The first class, which offered royal comfort, was abolished. The old second class was converted into first class and the inter class was turned into second class. His idea was to have only two classes in course of time.
He provided greater facilities to passengers in third class compartments. It was during his time that fans were provided in third class compartments. He resigned as Railway Minister owning moral responsibility, when an accident occurred in Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu in 1956 in which 144 persons were killed. In fact, he had put in his papers when an accident had occurred in Mahboobnagar three months earlier, killing 112. But Nehru had not accepted it. He refused to continue in the post after the Ariyalur accident.