With the aim of making the railways the most preferred means of travel, Indian Railways (IR) has firmed up plans to deploy new-generation trains and upgrade safety infrastructure. Equal emphasis has been laid on enhancing the role of the sector in freight transportation with key announcements under the Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal Policy. Sustainability, capacity enhancement, decongestion of high-density networks, safety and a better passenger experience remain the priority areas for the government.
Freight segment overview
With the 100 per cent commissioning of the eastern dedicated freight corridor (DFC) and 93 per cent for the western DFC, IR is on a steady path to regain its market share in freight transport (from the current 27 per cent to 45 per cent by 2030). During 2023-24, it reached a record freight loading of 1,588 million tonnes (mt), marking a nearly 5 per cent increase from 2022-23. This achievement brings IR closer to its ambitious target of 3,000 mt by 2030. Also, freight revenue of Rs 148 billion was recorded in June 2024 against Rs 133 billion in June 2023. Besides, three economic railway corridors – the energy, mineral and cement corridors with 192 projects, port connectivity corridors with 42 projects, and high traffic density corridors with 200 projects – have been identified for the purpose of multimodal connectivity under the PM Gati Shakti Mission.
Detailed project reports for three new DFCs – an east coast DFC of about 1,078 km an east-west DFC of about 2,300 km, and a north-south DFC of about 931 km – have been submitted to the Railway Board. Further, there are plans to integrate the DFCs with multimodal logistics parks (MMLPs) at New Kanpur, the New Rewari Triangle Area and New Prithla Station. With these initiatives, the Ministry of Railways aims to achieve a freight revenue of Rs 1.8 trillion during 2024-25 with the transportation of 1,650 mt of freight.
Enhancing passenger convenience
Passenger convenience has received significant attention with the introduction of the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme (ABSS), focusing on station redevelopment, transit-oriented development, concourse construction, etc. Funds under the customer amenities, in the Union Budget for the railway sector, have increased approximately eight times, from around Rs 20 billion during 2021-22 to Rs 155 billion during 2024-25. Besides, the centre has laid the foundation stone for 554 railway stations, under the ABSS, to be developed with an investment of Rs 190 billion, and inaugurated the Gomti Nagar Railway Station in Uttar Pradesh, redeveloped at a total cost of around Rs 3.85 billion, in February 2024. Also, IR has equipped 597 stations with disability-friendly amenities such as lifts and escalators for easier travel and access to the platforms.
Further, IR plans to manufacture a total of 10,000 non-air conditioned (AC) coaches by 2026. This will be done to enhance passenger capacity and solve the issues of congestion and overcrowding in the trains. The coach production plan of IR for 2024-25 includes the production of 2,605 general coaches, 1,470 non-AC sleeper coaches, 323 sitting cum-luggage rake coaches, 55 pantry cars, and 32 high-capacity parcel vans. Meanwhile, 2,710 general coaches, 1,910 non-AC sleeper coaches, 514 sitting-cum-luggage rake coaches, 200 high-capacity parcel vans, and 110 pantry cars are planned for 2025-26.
IR is likely to transform the general coaches of passenger trains to increase the passenger capacity from 80 to 150-200. The Railway Board has placed an order for the production of 2,500 bogies, as this will help in solving the issue of congestion in the trains. Moreover, it is planning to increase the number of general coaches from two to four in mail or express trains as well as introduce two general coaches in passenger trains.
Safety and technology initiatives
As of now, KAVACH has been deployed on 1,465 route kilometres (rkm) and 144 locomotives (including electric multiple unit rakes) on the South Central Railway. Currently, the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors (approximately 3,000 rkm) are under development. So far, it has covered the installation of 364 units of telecom towers, the laying of optical fibre cable on a stretch of 4,275 km, and the deployment of track side equipment on 1,384 rkm. Further, a detailed project report and a detailed estimate on another 6,000 rkm have already been approved by the railways.
Till June 30, 2024, the national transporter had installed the electronic interlocking (EI) system at a total of 6,589 stations and 11,048 level crossing gates. By July 2024, it had deployed closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras in about 9,572 Vande Bharat coaches. Besides, complete track circuiting has been implemented at 6,609 stations. It has also introduced policy modifications for level crossings on new lines, gauge conversion, doubling and multi-tracking projects. As per this policy, no level crossings will be included in the planning of a new railway line project while any crossings already approved in the ongoing projects will be removed.
With a vision to incorporate new-age technology in its security solutions, IR has awarded multiple contracts to private organisations. Sensonic IN India Private Limited has been awarded a contract for the deployment of an advanced elephant detection system, also known as Gajraj System, on the East Coast Railway’s routes. Another contract was awarded to Herta Security, a Barcelona-based firm providing biometric solutions, for the deployment of facial recognition technology across the IR network. Initially, as part of this contract, facial recognition cameras will be deployed at a total of 230 stations.
Going forward, it plans to invite tenders for the installation of KAVACH on a total of 10,000 km of its network. It also intends to deploy the technology on a total of 44,000 km of its network by 2029. Reportedly, the long term evolution (LTE)-based KAVACH 4.0 has also received approval from the Research Design and Standards Organisation.
Rolling stock
IR has launched a total of 772 train services during 2019-20 to 2023-24, across its routes. Meanwhile, till July 2024, a total of 102 Vande Bharat trains were being operated across India. During 2023-24, a total of 6,100 coaches were manufactured by railways, in comparison to, 5,814 coaches manufactured during 2022-23. Besides, it has commenced the process of manufacturing 150 Amrit Bharat trains with 50 more Amrit Bharat trains already under production.
IR also plans to manufacture around 1,000 Amrit Bharat trains in the upcoming years with a focus on increasing the speed to 250 km per hour (kmph).
Track construction
During 2014-24, 31,171 km of tracks were commissioned by the railways at an average of 3,171 km per year, which is nearly 112 per cent more than the average commissioning during 2004-14 (1,498 km per year). During 2023-24, track construction of 5,300 km was achieved, surpassing the 5,241 km achieved during 2022-23.
Special emphasis has been laid on track construction and modernisation initiatives with Rs 364.02 billion allocated for track construction, Rs 293.12 billion for doubling and Rs 47.19 billion for gauge conversion under the Union Budget 2024-25. IR is also targeting to add 5,500 km of tracks in 2024-25 at the pace of 15 km of new tracks per day along with replacing 7,000 km of old tracks every year.
Spearheading indigenisation and sustainability
The railways has completed the electrification on 64,080 rkm of the broad gauge (BG) route, which is 96.59 per cent of the total 66,343 rkm of the BG network. So far, a total of 20 states and union territories have achieved 100 per cent electrification.
IR has commenced the manufacturing of indigenous bullet trains which are being developed on the Vande Bharat platform. To be designed by the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Chennai, the bullet trains will operate on the north, south and east corridors at an overall speed of 250 kmph and would have the ability to accelerate from 0 to 100 kmph in just 52 seconds. Further, the railways has partnered with IIT-Kanpur for manufacturing India’s first hydrogen-fuelled rail locomotive to achieve its objective of carbon neutrality by 2030. A trial run of the hydrogen-powered train was conducted on the Kalka-Shimla route by the Railway Board. Besides, IR is likely to operationalise its first hydrogen train service during 2024-25 and is planning to launch a total of 50 hydrogen trains by 2047.
The union government intends to implement the production-linked incentive scheme for scaling up IR’s domestic production capacity, as part of the Make in India initiative. This includes the production of essential parts and components of both Vande Bharat trains and Link Hofmann Busch trains. The scheme is expected to provide an incentive of Rs 10 billion-Rs 15 billion in a time span of three years. Moreover, the centre plans to provide an output-linked incentive to firms manufacturing products such as wheels, transmission systems, brakes, and other vital components which are typically imported.
The road ahead
Going forward, IR’s primary focus will be on KAVACH installation, enhancement of the signalling system, track renewal, development of flyovers and underpasses, and building of coaches with safety features. The government’s plan to invest Rs 11 trillion in rail corridors, encompassing around 400 projects, signals a major growth opportunity for the sector. This substantial capital infusion by the centre is expected to drive significant development in the railways in the coming years.
