The railway sector is undergoing a transformative phase, driven by robust policy reforms and improved connectivity. The Ministry of Railways (MoR) is focusing on advancing both the passenger and freight segments by increasing freight loading, improving passenger safety, and facilitating the transition to sustainable fuels and practices.
Indian Infrastructure takes a look at some of the key developments in the railway sector over the past year…
Policy support and key initiatives
- IR has amended its land monetisation policy to allow the setting up of sorting, grading, packaging and labelling units on its vacant land. This move is expected to improve the transport of e-commerce cargo.
- IR is in the process of developing a new public-private partnership policy. It has identified around 50 high-return projects for private participation.
- In March 2025, the Rajya Sabha passed the Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2024, granting greater autonomy to the Railway Board (RB).
- The central government has allocated Rs 2.65 trillion to Indian Railways (IR) under Union Budget 2025-26, which remains the same as the revised estimate for 2024-25.
Update on key projects
- In June 2025, the centre inaugurated the Jammu-Udhampur-Katra-Qazigund-Baramulla New Rail Line Project, connecting the Kashmir Valley with the IR network. In addition, the first two pairs of the Vande Bharat Express trains from Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra station to Srinagar in Kashmir, passing via the Chenab and Anji Khad bridges, were inaugurated.
- The joint venture of Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon Private Limited, Siemens Limited and Siemens Mobility GmbH won a contract worth Rs 41.4 billion for signalling works of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor Project.
- In April 2025, the Pamban New Railway Bridge was inaugurated.
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved four railway projects worth Rs 186.58 billion in April 2025. These include the Jharsuguda-Sason third and fourth railway lines, the Jarapada-Sambalpur City third and fourth railway lines, the Gondia-Balharshah Rail Doubling Project and the Kharsia-Parmalkasa (via Naya Raipur) Rail Doubling Project.
Enhancing freight volumes
- In August 2025, the RB approved the first Joint Parcel Product-Rapid Cargo Service train from Budgam in Kashmir to Adarsh Nagar in Delhi.
- IR commenced the first freight train service to the Anantnag goods shed in Kashmir, transporting cement from the Gujarat Ambuja Cement Limited facility in Punjab.
- IR launched the first industrial salt-loaded rake in Gujarat, operating from the Sanosara goods shed in the Bhuj-Naliya section under the Ahmedabad railway division to Dahej.
- In August 2025, a trial run was conducted for India’s longest freight train, “Rudrastra”, spanning 4.5 km. The train comprises a total of 354 wagons, with each wagon carrying 72 tonnes of freight.
- India’s largest automobile Gati Shakti multimodal cargo terminal at Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Manesar, Haryana, was inaugurated.
- IR achieved a cumulative freight loading of 413 million tonnes during 2025-26 (till June 2025), marking a 2 per cent annual increase. It also generated Rs 448.7 billion in freight revenue during the same period, reflecting a 2 per cent annual increase.
Focus on passenger safety and comfort
- As of July 2025, progress on the Kavach system includes the installation of 619 telecom towers, laying of optical fibre across 5,856 km, installation of trackside equipment over 4,001 route km, and the provision of Kavach in 1,107 locomotives and at 708 stations.
- IR has commissioned Kavach on the Mathura-Kota section of the Delhi-Mumbai route.
- It has also installed closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in 11,535 coaches of various trains as of July 2025. Furthermore, IR plans to install CCTV cameras in all of its 74,000 coaches and 15,000 locomotives to improve passenger safety.
- In June 2025, the centre inaugurated 103 redeveloped Amrit Bharat stations, built with a total investment of Rs 11 billion.
Sustainability initiatives
- The Banaras Locomotive Works, Varanasi, has commissioned a first-of-its-kind removable solar panel system installed between railway tracks.
- IR installed solar power plants aggregating 181 MW between January 2025 and June 2025. As of July 2025, IR has commissioned around 660 MW of solar power capacity (both on rooftops and land) and 103 MW of wind power capacity.
- As of March 2025, IR achieved 100 per cent electrification of the South Central Railway and Western Railway zones. With this, it has fully electrified a total of 14 zones.
- Rail Vikas Nigam Limited is planning to source nuclear energy from small modular reactors for four major railway projects, including the Rishikesh-Karnaprayag, the Bhanupali-Bilaspur, the Yavatmal-Nanded and the Indore-Budni railway line projects. Moreover, IR is evaluating the adoption of Bharat small reactors, being developed by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.
