Indian Railways (IR), one of the largest and most complex railway networks, is undergoing a major transformation to improve connectivity and convenience. The focus is on increasing IR’s modal share in freight to 45 per cent, along with achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2030.
Indian Infrastructure takes a look at some of the key developments in the railway sector over the past year…
Policy support and key initiatives
- The central government has set an asset monetisation target of Rs 2.6 trillion for the railways under the National Monetisation Pipeline 2.0 for 2026-30.
- It has allocated Rs 2,928 billion for IR under Union Budget 2026-27.
- IR liberalised its parcel service policy to increase the parcel business by attracting more aggregators.
- IR announced 17 reforms under its “52 reforms in 52 weeks” initiative, covering freight, logistics, construction, project execution, wagon design, skilling and ease of doing business.
- In June 2026, the South Coast Railway zone commenced operations in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh.
Update on key projects
- In July 2026, the central government inaugurated 75 redeveloped stations under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme.
- In March 2026, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited completed the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor Project.
- In September 2025, the central government inaugurated the Bhairabi-Sairang New Railway Line Project.
- National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited commenced tunnelling work using tunnel boring machines from Vikhroli to Bandra Kurla Complex Station under the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail Corridor Project.
- The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Ghaziabad Station-Sitapur Third and Fourth Rail Line Project and the Rajahmundry (Nidadavolu)-Visakhapatnam (Duvvada) Third and Fourth Rail Line Project at an estimated cost of Rs 248.15 billion.
Scaling up freight and passenger capacities
- The construction of seven new high-speed rail corridors, spanning 4,000 km, has been planned with an expected investment of Rs 16 trillion by IR.
- So far, IR has operationalised 162 Vande Bharat, two Vande Bharat Sleeper and 72 Amrit Bharat trains across India.
- IR launched its first direct commercial container freight train from Kolkata port to the biratnagar Customs Yard in Nepal.
- Titagarh Rail Systems Limited has entered into a collaboration agreement with TuTr Hyperloop Private Limited for India’s first hyperloop-enabled freight mobility solutions.
- IR has commissioned 142 Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminals (GCTs), with a capacity to handle 224 million tonnes per annum of freight. Moreover, in-principle approvals have been granted for the development of GCTs at 310 additional locations.
Focus on passenger safety
- IR has commissioned Kavach 4.0 on 2,633 route km (rkm) of the high-density Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes as of July 2026.
- Progress on other key items of Kavach includes laying of 11,547 km of optical fibre cables, installation of track-side equipment across 7,726 rkm, installation of 1,721 telecom towers, construction of station data centres at 1,009 stations, and provision of Kavach in 6,290 locomotives as of July 2026.
- IR is working towards the development of Kavach 5.0 for the suburban rail network across Mumbai.
- Western Railway has commissioned the Kavach 4.0 automatic train protection system on the 96 km-long Bajwa (Vadodara)-Ahmedabad section.
- In January 2026, Kernex Microsystems (India) Limited won a contract worth Rs 24.65 billion for the commissioning of on-board Kavach loco equipment (ver 4.0) from the Chittaranjan Locomotive Works.
Sustainability initiatives
- As of June 2026, IR has commissioned 1,161 MW of solar installations (both rooftop and ground mounted) and about 103 MW of wind power plants.
- In June 2026, K2 Infragen Limited received letters of acceptance worth Rs 1,585.8 million for the upgradation of the electric traction system for the Luni-Samdari-Bhildi and Jaipur-Sawai Madhopur sections.
- In July 2026, the central government launched India’s first hydrogen train, with a 1,200 kW hydrogen fuel cell propulsion system at Jind in Haryana.
- IR has achieved 99.6 per cent electrification of its broad gauge network, covering 30 states and union territories as of March 2026.
- Rail Vikas Nigam Limited plans to develop all 12 proposed station buildings in line with the Indian Green Building Council guidelines.
- Jindal Green Private Limited has signed a power purchase agreement with Northern Railway for the supply of 150 MW of round-the-clock power from renewable energy projects, with or without storage.
- Concord Control Systems Limited, in collaboration with its subsidiary Advance Rail Controls Private Limited, plans to develop the world’s largest 3,100 horsepower hydrogen-fuelled locomotive propulsion system
