Railways

The Railways section covers the key trends and developments in the freight and passenger segments, recent policy developments, current status of major projects such as the Dedicated Freight Coirridor, high speed rail, etc.; captital investment and financing; key issues and challenges.
Ministry of Railways, freight traffic, passenger traffic, high speed rail, Dedicated Freight Corridor, zonal railways, earnings, project commissioned, bidding, energy consumption, signalling, train control

Modernisation Impetus: Technology initiatives for IR’s infrastructure development and improving efficiency

July 1, 2019

Modernisation of Indian Railways (IR) has been on the cards for a long time now. Over the past few years, the government has taken several initiatives to improve the quality of infrastructure and services being […]

Views of Rajesh Agrawal: “The export of train sets also presents a huge opportunity for the country”

June 2, 2019

Indian Railways (IR) has undergone a sea change with regard to the way passengers and freight move on its network. Modernisation of the existing fleet and the introduction of semi-high speed and high speed rolling […]

Bridging the Brahmaputra: India’s longest rail-cum-road bridge inaugurated in Assam

January 1, 2019

With the commissioning of the 4.94 km Bogibeel bridge in Assam, India completed its longest rail-cum-road bridge, which is also Asia’s second longest rail-road link. In a much-awaited move, the central government inaugurated the bridge […]

Views of Shailendra Jaiswal: “Making local, going global”

January 1, 2019

The central government’s flagship programme, Make in India envisions making India into a global manufacturing hub. It has led to huge investments in the railway sector through several big-ticket projects. With the three objectives of […]

Sector Review: Some expectations met, but miles to go

August 21, 2018

Indian Railways (IR) is a vast monolith, a state within a state. It is perhaps the most important part of the country’s transportation segment, not only for passenger traffic, but also for freight movement. IR’s […]

Views of Piyush Goyal: “Need to take small steps for hugely incremental results”

August 20, 2018

The railway sector offers a unique opportunity for growth. However, there are several issues that need to be dealt with on an immediate basis, which the government has been working on. At the Smart Railways […]

New Paradigms: Innovations in infrastructure development

August 19, 2018

Professor G. Raghuram, Director, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore Even as India looks to step up the pace of growth of its economy and provide a better quality of life to its citizens, infrastructure remains […]

Improving Performance: Challenges, opportunities and the way forward for the railway sector

August 18, 2018

Indian Railways (IR) has witnessed improvements across areas such as safety, cleanliness, capacity and efficiency over the past couple of years. For example, consequential train accidents have reduced from 118 in 2013-14 to 73 in […]

Key Statistics: Trends in passenger traffic and earnings

August 17, 2018

Passenger traffic has grown at a CAGR of 3.39 per cent during the past 20 years. During this period, the first dip in traffic was reported in 2002-03, following which there was positive growth for […]

Key Statistics: Trends in freight traffic and earnings

August 16, 2018

Freight traffic recorded a CAGR of 5.53 per cent during 1998-99 to 2017-18. It crossed the 1 billion tonne mark in 2012-13 and has been rising continuously since then. Freight earnings grew at a […]

Foremost Priority: Greater investment and technological innovations to enhance safety

April 26, 2018

Emerging as a very serious issue, safety has been accorded the highest priority by the Ministry of Railways (MoR). Recently, the alarming capacity utilisation levels and an increasing number of accidents on the Indian Railways’ […]

Overutilised Tracks: Ambitious track laying targets to decongest rail network

April 25, 2018

Railway tracks play a pivotal role in expediting the economic growth of a country by enabling seamless transportation of freight and passenger traffic, thereby generating revenues. The Indian Railways’ (IR) network is congested and overutilised, […]

Going Green: IR focuses on renewables and energy efficiency

April 24, 2018

Accounting for almost a quarter of the ordinary working expenses of the Indian Railways (IR), energy has emerged as one of its key focus areas. In recent years, the carrier has managed to control its […]

New Milestones: IR sets new records under Make in India initiative

April 23, 2018

The central government’s flagship initiative, Make in India, has led to huge investments in the railway sector through several big-ticket projects. For instance, two locomotive factories in Bihar, currently under construction, marked the highest inflow […]

Renewed Focus: Rail connectivity in the Northeast finally gets attention

April 22, 2018

Over the past few years, the north-eastern region (NER), comprising Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Assam, has received an impetus to improve railway connectivity. Of the total existing rail network of 2,669.52 […]

Gaining Traction: First high speed rail project breaks ground

April 21, 2018

The development of high speed railway infrastructure has been on the Indian Railways’ (IR) agenda for several years now. To facilitate the running of trains at speeds of 350 km per hour, IR is developing […]

Modernisation Efforts: Progress under the station redevelopment programme

April 20, 2018

Improving the ease of travel for passengers has been a key focus area of the Ministry of Railways (MoR). Launched in 2015, the station redevelopment programme envisages the redevelopment of 400 stations across 100 cities. […]

Key Statistics: Performance of the freight segment

April 19, 2018

Key Statistics: Performance of the passenger segment

April 18, 2018

Transforming Indian Railways: Keynote address by Ajit Pandit, Additional Member, Railway Board

February 28, 2018

India Infrastructure recently organised a roundtable on “Transforming Indian Railways – The Role of Technology”. The keynote address, which was delivered by Ajit Pandit, additional member, Railway Board, highlighted the recent initiatives undertaken by Indian […]