The

Indian Government The Government of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the Government, national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy lo ...

is undertaking several initiatives to upgrade its aging railway infrastructure and enhance its quality of service. The Railway Ministry has announced plans to invest to upgrade the railways by 2030. Upgrades include 100% electrification of railways, upgrading existing lines with more facilities and higher speeds, expansion of new lines, upgrading railway stations, introducing and eventually developing a large

high-speed train High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

network interconnecting major cities in different parts of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

and development of various dedicated freight corridors to cut down cargo costs within the country.

Research Design and Standards Organisation The Research Designs & Standards Organisation (RDSO) is an ISO 9001 R&D, research and development organisation under the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of government of India, which functions as a technical adviser and consulta ...

(RDSO) is undertaking all research, designs and standardisation work for modernisation,

National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited The National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) has been incorporated since 2016 to manage the High Speed Rail Corridor in India. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. NHS ...

(NHSRCL) is overlooking the implementation of high-speed train programs across the country,

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL) is a public sector undertaking which undertakes planning, development, and mobilisation of financial resources and construction, maintenance and operation of the ''"Dedicated ...

(DFCCI) is the agency undertaking development of freight corridors around the country and

Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC) was a special purpose vehicle owned by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), Ircon International and RITES. All three companies are owned by the Indian Ministry of Railways. I ...

(IRSDC) is engaged in railway stations upgrade and development programs.

Trains

High-speed rail

Feasibility studies for five

high-speed rail High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, lines ...

corridors were conducted between 2009 and 2010. A "

Diamond Quadrilateral The Diamond Quadrilateral is a project of the Indian Railways to establish a high-speed rail network in India. The Diamond Quadrilateral will connect the four mega cities of India, viz. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai, similar to the Golde ...

" has been planned to connect

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

,and

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

with a high-speed train network. The Indian government conducted joint surveys with a Japanese government team in 2014, finally approving a corridor between Mumbai and

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

. The new high-speed service will use a Japanese

Shinkansen The , colloquially known in English as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. Initially, it was built to connect distant Japanese regions with Tokyo, the capital, to aid economic growth and development. Beyond l ...

system and rolling stock. The cost of procuring the technology is estimated to be around . India and Japan signed agreements for the project in December 2015; the Japanese government will fund 81% of the total cost with a soft loan fixed at a nominal interest rate. A special committee has recommended the trains be run on an elevated corridor for an additional cost of , to avoid the difficulties of acquiring land, building underpasses and constructing protective fencing. Indian Railways will operate the corridor for a five-year period after its commissioning and afterwards will be turned over to a private operator. Construction work of the corridor began in 2017 and will be completed by 2028.

Semi-high-speed rail

A semi-high-speed rail network will be introduced for connecting important routes, including Delhi–Agra, Delhi–Kanpur, Chennai–Hyderabad, Nagpur–Secunderabad, Mumbai–Pune–Solapur–Hyderabad and Mumbai–Goa. Initially, the trains will operate at a maximum speed of 160 km/h, which will be increased to 200 km/h after the rails are strengthened and fenced off. The

Gatimaan Express The 12049 / 12050 Gatimaan Express is India's first semi-high speed train that runs between Delhi and Jhansi. It takes 265 minutes (around 4.5 hours) to cover the journey from Hazrat Nizamuddin to Virangana Lakshmibai Junction railway sta ...

began services on April 5, 2016, after safety clearances were obtained on its first route. There are also plans by certain states to start semi high speed rail by their own. The 575 km long Silver Line (K-Rail) project of

Government of Kerala Government of Kerala is the subnational government of the Indian state of Kerala. The government is led by a chief minister, who selects all the other ministers. The chief minister and their most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision ...

is one such project.

Conversion to high-speed passenger and freight corridors

IR will convert 10,000 km passenger and freight trunk routes in to High-speed rail corridors of India over 10 years with total investment of and annual investment of from 2017 to 2027, where half of the money will be spent on converting existing routes into high-speed corridors by leap-frogging the technology and the rest will be used to develop the stations and electronic signaling at the cost of to enable automated running of trains at 5–6 minutes frequency. Dedicated freight corridors of 3,300 km length will also be completed thus freeing the dual use high demand trunk routes for running more high-speed passenger trains.Railways may invest Rs 20-lakh crore in high-speed corridors
Economic Times, 23 Dec 2017.

Rolling Stock

Modern locomotive factories

In 2015, plans were disclosed for the construction of two locomotive factories with foreign partnerships in the state of Bihar, at Madhepura (electric) and at Marhowra (diesel). The diesel locomotive works will be jointly operated in a partnership with

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

, which has invested for its construction and the electric locomotive works with

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

, which has invested . The factories will provide IR with 800 electric locomotives of 12,000 horsepower and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 horsepower each. In November 2015, it was announced IR and GE would engage in an 11-year joint venture in which GE would hold a majority stake of 74%. IR would purchase 100 goods locomotives a year for 10 years, beginning in 2017; the locomotives would be modified versions of the

GE Evolution series The Evolution Series is a line of diesel locomotives built by GE Transportation Systems (now owned by Wabtec), initially designed to meet the U.S. EPA's Tier 2 locomotive emissions standards that took effect in 2005. The first pre-production u ...

. The diesel locomotive works will be built by 2018; GE will import the first 100 locomotives and manufacture the remaining 900 in India from 2019 onwards, also assuming responsibility for their maintenance over a 13-year period. In the same month, a partnership with Alstom to supply 800 electric locomotives from 2018 to 2028 was announced. Indian Railways is now moving to manufacturing high-end aluminium self-propelled 160 km/hour indigenous

Make in India Make in India is an initiative by the Government of India to create and encourage companies to develop, manufacture and assemble products made in India and incentivize dedicated investments into manufacturing. The policy approach was to creat ...

coaches that require no locomotive and are 10% cheaper than the comparable imports. The first such self-propelled train,

Vande Bharat Express The Vande Bharat Express, previously known as Train 18, is a semi-high-speed, electric multiple unit train operated by Indian Railways. It was designed and manufactured by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. The first train was manufactured in ...

, was rolled out in October 2018. It is estimated to be 40% cheaper than foreign-built trains. By 2020 an even cheaper and lighter aluminum version is planned to follow.160km self-propelled coaches
Economic Times, 15 Mar 2018.

Railway coach refurbishment

Railway coach refurbishment project aims for the refurbishment of 12 to 15 years old coaches at Carriage Rehabilitation Workshop in Bhopal to enhance passenger amenities and fire safety measures.

Bio-toilets in all trains

In 2014, IR and DRDO developed a bio-toilet to replace direct-discharge toilets, which was the primary type of toilet used in railway coaches. Upgrade of all trains to bio-toilet was completed by the end of fy2018-19 (c. Dec 2017).Electrification of Delhi-Jaipur rail route to be completed by December 2018: Railway Board Chairman
Economic Times, 23 Dec 2017. The direct discharge of human waste from trains onto the tracks corrodes rails, costing IR tens of millions of rupees a year in rail-replacement work. Flushing a bio-toilet discharges human waste into an underfloor holding tank where anaerobic bacteria remove harmful pathogens and break the waste down into neutral water and methane, which can then be harmlessly discharged onto the tracks. IR plans to completely phase out direct-discharge toilets by 2020 or 2021. All-new coaches were installed in 2016, with older rolling stock to gradually becoming retrofitted. After

Comptroller and Auditor General of India The Comptroller and Auditor General of India is the supreme audit institution of India, established under Article 148 of the Constitution of India. They are empowered to audit all receipts and expenditure of the Government of India and the S ...

found 200,000 complaints related to the foul smelling and blocked bio-toilets, IR announced that it will add 80,000 bio-toilets (each costing INR 1 lakh) in fy2018-2019 and will start installing much improved "vacuum bio-toilets" (each costing INR 2.5 lakh) as well. By Feb 2018, over 100,000 biotoilets have been installed and the project is on target to have 100% biotoilets by 31 March 2019.

Hyperloop

Mumbai–Pune hyperloop

Mumbai–Pune hyperloop is a proposed 1000 km/hr

Hyperloop A hyperloop is a proposed high-speed transportion system for both public and goods transport. The idea was picked up by Elon Musk to describe a modern project based on the vactrain concept (first appearance in 1799). Hyperloop systems compris ...

system that will take 14 minutes compared to current 3 hours to commute between these two cities while carrying 10,000 commuters per hour (5,000 in each direction). The route is found feasible and can be made operational by 2026 as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR) submitted to ''"Pune Metropolitan Region Development Authority"'' (PMRDA) by ''"Virgin Hyperloop company"'' in January 2018. Commuters and cargo will travel in pods traveling in the near-vacuum tubes at the speed of 1,000 km/hr. DPR provided three feasible terminal end-points options in Mumbai, namely Dadar, Santacruz and the international airport. Currently, 300,000 people commute between these two cities daily in 110,000 vehicles (including 80,000 cars and 6,000 buses).Pune-Mumbai in 14 minutes: Firm’s project report says Hyperloop transport system feasible

Hindustan Times ''Hindustan Times'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper based in Delhi. It is the flagship publication of HT Media, an entity controlled by the KK Birla family, and is owned by Shobhana Bhartia. It was founded by Sunder Singh Lyall ...

, 9 Jan 2018. (as of Jan 2018)

Infrastructure

Stations

Station redevelopment

Under a INR 1 trillion initiative,Indian Railways unit invites proposals to modernize 3 stations

Livemint ''Mint'' is an Indian financial daily newspaper published by HT Media, a Delhi-based media group which is controlled by the K. K. Birla family that also publishes ''Hindustan Times''. It mostly targets readers who are business executives and ...

, 17 Mar 2018. 600 railway stations will be redeveloped by monetizing 2700 acres of spare railway land under the plan undertaken by

by converging it with the

Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission was renamed to Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) and then relaunched by Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi in June 2015 with the focus to establish infrastructure th ...

and

Smart Cities Mission National Smart Cities Mission is an urban renewal and retrofitting program by the Government of India with the mission to develop smart cities across the country, making them citizen friendly and sustainable. The Union Ministry of Urban Devel ...

in collaboration with

Ministry of Urban Development The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) is a ministry of the Government of India with executive authority over the formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to the housing and urban development in Ind ...

Rail Land Development Authority Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) is a statutory authority, under the Indian Ministry of Railways, set-up by an Amendment to the Railways Act, 1989. It is responsible for creating assets for Indian Railways through the development of vacan ...

and

National Buildings Construction Corporation NBCC (India) Limited, formerly known as National Buildings Construction Corporation is a central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India. The central public sector undertaki ...

. Following monetization of land, will be used for the commercial development, for station redevelopment and the remaining as surplus with the Railways. Initially A1 and A category stations will be prioritised.Railways appoints IRSDC as nodal agency for station redevelopment
Livemint, 5 Dec 2017. To begin with 22 stations will be developed by end of 2018. In the first batch, IRSDC invited proposals in March 2018 for redeveloping 3 stations over two years, including the

Chandigarh railway station Chandigarh Junction railway station (station code:- CDG), serves the union territory city of Chandigarh. The station is at an elevation of and was assigned the code – CDG. Chandigarh is amongst the top hundred booking stations of the Indian ...

Bijwasan railway station Bijwasan railway station is a railway station in Bijwasan which is a residential and commercial neighborhood of South Delhi area of Delhi. Its code is BWSN. The station is part of Delhi Suburban Railway. The station consists of two platforms. T ...

and

Anand Vihar railway station Anand Vihar Terminal (station code: ANVT) is a railway station in the Anand Vihar locality of Delhi, India. It is under the administrative control of the Delhi Division of the Northern Railway zone of the Indian Railways. This station was offic ...

costing Rs140 crore, Rs310 crore and Rs206 crore respective.

Tracks

Dedicated freight corridors

There are 2 under implementation and 4 approved DFCs with many more planned. DFC will convert existing and implement new DFC as High-speed rail corridors of India.

Geostrategic border rail lines

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

(MoD) a list of at least 15 new geostrategic rail lines to be constructed. In 2012, MoD had identified following 14

geostrategic Geostrategy, a subfield of geopolitics, is a type of foreign policy guided principally by geographical factors as they inform, constrain, or affect political and military planning. As with all strategies, geostrategy is concerned with matching mea ...

new rail lines to be built near

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

and

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

border for the rapid and easier deployment of troops while simultaneously undertaking development of 73 similar geostrategic

India-China Border Roads India-China Border Roads (ICBRs, ICB Roads) is a Government of India project for developing infrastructure along the Sino-Indian border by constructing strategic roads, including bridges and tunnels. The ICBR project is largely in response to C ...

(ICBR) roads as border rail and road transport development in India is lagging much behind China:India to lay 14 strategic railway lines near China, Pakistan border
Pakistan Today, APRIL 4, 2014. China has built lines up to Shigatse in Tibet, with plans to connect it to Nepal and further to India.Real reason why India is building 14 strategic rail lines
International Business Times, , Dec 1, 2016. After these lines proposed by MoD in 2013, GoI approved the initial surveys of all 14 lines in 2014,Government gives go-ahead to 4 strategic rail lines along China border
Indian Express, October 22, 2014. of which at least 12 surveys had been already completed by 2014. Later additional "Bilaspur–Manali–Leh line" was also added to the list of strategic lines. In 2016, the "Final Location Survey" (FLS) at the cost of INR345 crore for 4 lines to be taken up in the first phase was approved by the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

, funding has been already provided by MoD and railway is undertaking survey of Missamari–Tenga–Tawang, Bilaspur–Manali–Leh, Pasighat–Tezu–Rupai and Lakhimpur–Bame–Silapathar lines.India to construct strategic railway lines along border with China
Hindustan Times, 30 Nov 2016.2019 target to survey 3 strategic rail lines along China border
Arunachal Observer, January 5, 2019. Undulating terrain of young Himalayas and difficult geological conditions affect the pace of survey.Defence ministry has identified 4 strategic lines
Times of India, 4 April 2018. As of July 2020, Cabinet approval for the funding for construction of any of these lines has not been granted yet. Following projects along the LAC with China are also of relevance, only one of these is included in the MoD's list of strategically important defence projects, however all of these have been declared projects of strategic national importance. * Char Dham Railway in Uttrakhand ** Dehradun–Uttarkashi–Maneri Gangotri Railway, included in the MoD list, will serve the

disputed Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

Nelang-Pulam Sumda area of LAC. **

Uttarkashi–Palar Yamunotri Railway The Uttarkashi–Palar Yamunotri Railway, notified as the project of national strategic importance, is Indian Railways's one of the four constituent routes of the proposed Char Dham Railway connecting the holiest Chota Char Dham of Hinduism. Thi ...

, 22 km long route,Good news for Chardham rail line, approved budget for this big work
18 January 2018. will serve disputed Nelang-Pulam Sumda area of LAC. ** Karnaprayag–Saikot–Sonprayag Kedarnath Railway 99 km long route, will serve disputed Nelang-Pulam Sumda and Bara Hoti area of LAC. ** Saikot–Joshimath Badrinath Railway, 75 km long route will serve disputed Nelang-Pulam Sumda and Bara Hoti area of LAC.Achilles Heel in India's Border Defence with China!

Indian Defence Review Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

, 20 June 2017.After 24 years of work, strategic military outpost near India-China border connected with motorable road

Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English language, English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, t ...

, 11 Nov 2016. *

Sivok–Rangpo line Sivok-Rangpo Railway Line is a line currently under construction to connect the Indian states of West Bengal and Sikkim. It branches out from New Jalpaiguri–Alipurduar–Samuktala Road line at Sivok railway station, Sevoke Town near Siliguri i ...

(Gangtok) in Sikkim, 44 km long line,North East to get better Indian Railways connectivity! 5 major rail projects lined up
Financial Express, July 17, 2020. will serve disputed area of

Doklam Doklam (), called Donglang () by China, is an area in Bhutan with a high plateau and a valley, lying between China's Chumbi Valley to the north, Bhutan's Haa District, Ha District to the east and India's Sikkim state to the west. It has been ...

on LAC,

Track gauge conversion

Indian Railways is converting its entire network to broad gauge to enhance viability. New and converted broad gauge tracks are being introduced at the rate of 7.7 km per day. IR has projected completion date of the same till 2022.Indian narrow gauge shrinks further under Project Unigauge
The Railway Magazine, March 2017.Uni-gauge Policy of Indian Railways
29 Jul 2016.Speeding up gauge conversion

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

, 2012.

Track electrification

Electrification of all routes to save on the imported fuel costs and improve running speed, IR launched "Mission Electrification" in 2017 to electrify 100% or the remaining 38,000 km of the broad gauge network in five years from fy2017-18 to fy2022-23,Railways set to electrify 38,000 km route in next five years
Economic Times, 15 Dec 2017. Railways annual fuel bill is , including on diesel and converting to 100% electricity will save by bringing the total fuel bill to (c. Dec 2017). Completion of electrification at the end of March 2021 was or 71%.

Doubling of tracks

Doubling of tracks to reduce congestion and delays while improving safety. 15,000 km double tracks already exist by 2016 and funding for 12,500 km more track doubling was approved in 2016. In fy2018-19 budget, 18,000 km of broad gauge track doubling and conversion was approved along with 36,000km of track renewal for safety.

Track renewal

In FY 2018-19 budget, 36,000 km of broad gauge renewal was approved to enhance the safety.

Power and fuel

Off-the-grid solar-powered trains

Off-the-grid Off-the-grid or off-grid is a characteristic of buildings and a lifestyle designed in an independent manner without reliance on one or more public utilities. The term "off-the-grid" traditionally refers to not being connected to the electrical gr ...

solar powered trains by installing 1 gigawatt of

solar Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicate t ...

and 130 megawatts of

wind power Wind power or wind energy is mostly the use of wind turbines to electricity generation, generate electricity. Wind power is a popular, sustainable energy, sustainable, renewable energy source that has a much smaller Environmental impact of wi ...

between 2017 and 2022. India introduced world's first solar powered train in June 2017 as well as 50 coaches with rooftop solar farms.India’s new solar-powered train is the first in the world
June 2017 In July 2017, IR rolled out its first DEMU train with rooftop solar panels that power the lights, fans and information display systems inside passenger coaches.

Rooftop solar electricity

Rooftop solar electricity at stations to reduce long-term fuel cost and protect the environment.

Traintop solar electricity

In 2017, first train with solar rooftop panels started. Increasingly more trains will be operated with renewal onboard solar electricity generation.

LED lighting

Sustainable Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...

lighting on all stations by March 2018 to cut electricity costs (Dec 2017).https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/all-railway-stations-to-be-100-pc-led-lit-by-april-2018-rlys/articleshow/62138170.cms Indian Railways plans to make all stations 100% LED lit by March 31, 2018],

, 19 Dec 2017.

Safety

Elimination of unmanned level crossings on broad gauge network

Target completion date for this is March 2020. Fy2017-18 has allocated funds to eliminate remaining 4,267 unmanned railway crossings on broad gauge routes in the next two years by March 2020.

, Feb 2018. A "National Rail Safety Fund," for a complete safety upgrade by 2022, was announced in the 2017 Union Budget; among other improvements, the program would eliminate unmanned level crossings by March 2020. Level crossing, Elimination of Unmanned Level Crossings at an average of 1217 per year by building an average of 1066 Road Over Bridges (ROB) and Road Under Bridges (RUB) per year (May 2016).Indian Railways commissions around 4800 kilometer of broad gauge track in last two financial years which is a record performance
12 May 2016.

Automated fog pilot assistance system

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

-enabled Fog Pilot Assistance System

railway signalling Railway signalling (), also called railroad signaling (), is a system used to control the movement of railway traffic. Trains move on fixed rails, making them uniquely susceptible to collision. This susceptibility is exacerbated by the enormou ...

devices, old practice of putting firecrackers on train tracks to alert train divers was done away with by initially installing 6,095 devices in four most affected zones in 2017,

Northern Railway zone The Northern Railway (NR) is one of the 19 Railway zones of India and the northernmost zone of the Indian Railways. It is headquartered at Baroda House in New Delhi. History Officially notified as a new railway zone on 14 April 1952, ...

North Central Railway zone The North Central Railway (abbreviated NCR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. The largest railway station in NCR is Kanpur Central. It is headquartered at Prayagraj and comprises three divisions: Allahabad division, Jhansi division, A ...

North Eastern Railway zone The North Eastern Railway (abbreviated NER) is one of the 19 railway zones of Indian Railways in India. It is headquartered at Gorakhpur. Zonal Rail Training Institute (ZRTI) is established in district Ghazipur, Uttar Pradesh. North Eastern ...

and

North Western Railway zone The North Western Railway (abbreviated NWR) is one of the 19 railway zones in India. It is headquartered at Jaipur,Rajasthan with 59,075+ employees, 658+ stations and a route length of more than 5761 km across at least some parts of four ...

. /economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/62042305.cms "Indian Railways to use GPS-enabled devices to fight fog this season" ''The Economic Times'', 12 December 2017.

Automated fire alarm system

Automated fire alarm system project started from 2013 when improved automated fire alarm System in Rajdhani Express trains were installed, these will be installed in the AC coaches of all regular trains.

CCTV camera on stations

963 stations will have

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

camera by the end of 2018. Progressively CCTV cameras and wifi will be installed on all trains and stations.

CCTV camera inside trains

IR has started to install cameras in some of the trains from fy2017-18 under the Nirbhaya fund. Progressively CCTV cameras will be installed in all trains.

Information technology

Digital India Digital India is a campaign launched by the Government of India in order to ensure that the Government's services are made available to citizens electronically by improved online infrastructure and by increasing Internet connectivity or making ...

driven digitalisation of railway to improvement efficiency and reduce cost. funding was approved in 2016.Indian Railways orders conversion to Broad Gauge
Rail Digest, 12 Apr 2017.

Services

Wi-fi-enabled trains and stations

Progressively CCTV cameras and wifi will be installed on all trains and stations (announcement c. March 2018). In September 2015, the IR and

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

announced a joint initiative intent on delivering high-speed wi-fi access across 400 major railway stations. The first 100 stations were connected to the network by the end of 2016, with Mumbai Central station the first to be connected. The

Railtel RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Indian Railways, Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It provides broadband and VPN services. RailTel was formed in September 2000 with the objective of creating a nati ...

free high-speed public WiFi service is currently available at

Mumbai Central Mumbai Central (formerly Bombay Central, station code: MMCT) is a major railway station on the Western line, situated in Mumbai, Maharashtra in an area known by the same name. It serves as a major stop for both Local and Inter-City/Express tr ...

Chennai Central Chennai Central (station code: MAS, short for ''Madras''), officially known as Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station, is the main railway terminus in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the busiest railway ...

Chennai Egmore Chennai Egmore, formerly known as Madras Egmore, also known as Chennai Elumbur (station code: MS), is a railway station in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Situated in the neighborhood of Egmore, it is one of the four intercity railway terminals in t ...

Madurai Junction Madurai Junction railway station (station code: MDU) is a railway station in South India and the primary railway station serving the city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu. The station is the headquarters of the Madurai railway division of the Southern ...

Coimbatore Junction Coimbatore Junction railway station, also known as Kovai Junction railway station (station code: CBE), is the primary railway station serving Coimbatore city. History Train service in Coimbatore with construction of the Old_Coimbatore Railwa ...

Chandigarh Chandigarh () is a planned city in India. Chandigarh is bordered by the state of Punjab to the west and the south, and by the state of Haryana to the east. It constitutes the bulk of the Chandigarh Capital Region or Greater Chandigarh, which al ...

Old Delhi Old Delhi or Purani Dilli is an area in the Central Delhi district of Delhi, India. It was founded as a walled city named Shahjahanabad in 1648, when Shah Jahan (the Mughal emperor at the time) decided to shift the Mughal capital from Agra. Th ...

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

Bhubaneshwar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango tr ...

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

Ranchi Ranchi (, ) is the capital of the Indian state of Jharkhand. Ranchi was the centre of the Jharkhand movement, which called for a separate state for the tribal regions of South Bihar, northern Odisha, western West Bengal and the eastern area ...

Raipur Raipur ( ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Raipur is also the administrative headquarters of Raipur district and Raipur division, and the largest city of the state. It was a part of Madhya Pradesh before the state of Chh ...

Vijayawada Vijayawada, formerly known as Bezawada, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and is a part of the state's Capital Region. It is the administrative headquarters of the NTR district. Its metropolitan region comprises NT ...

Kacheguda Kachiguda is one of the old suburbs in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. The third largest railway station in Hyderabad, Kacheguda railway station, built during the Nizam rule, is a major landmark of Kachiguda. History The name was derived from t ...

, Ernakulum,

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...

, Jabalpur, Vishakhapatnam,

Jaipur Jaipur (; Hindi Language, Hindi: ''Jayapura''), formerly Jeypore, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Rajasthan. , the city had a pop ...

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

Gorakhpur Gorakhpur is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, along the banks of the Rapti river in the Purvanchal region. It is situated 272 kilometers east of the state capital Lucknow. It is the administrative headquarters of Gorakhpur dist ...

Patna Patna ( ), historically known as Pataliputra, is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Patna had a population of 2.35 million, making it the 19th largest city in India. ...

Guwahati Guwahati (, ; formerly rendered Gauhati, ) is the biggest city of the Indian state of Assam and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the ...

Ujjain Ujjain (, Hindustani language, Hindustani pronunciation: Help:IPA/Hindi and Urdu, �d͡ːʒɛːn is a city in Ujjain district of the States and territories of India, Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the fifth-largest city in Madhya Prad ...

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

Howrah Howrah (, , alternatively spelled as Haora) is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. Howrah is located on the western bank of the Hooghly River opposite its twin city of Kolkata. Administratively it lies within Howrah district, and is th ...

Varanasi Varanasi (; ; also Banaras or Benares (; ), and Kashi.) is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world. * * * * The city has a syncretic t ...

, etc.

Tickets

Select passengers with confirmed tickets will now be allowed to transfer tickets to someone else.

Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) is an Indian public sector undertaking that provides ticketing, catering, and tourism services for the Indian Railways. It was initially wholly owned by the Government of India and operated ...

(IRCTC) is now offering a pay-on-delivery option for train tickets on its website and app, where the customers can book their tickets and pay on delivery.

Escalators

Progressively escalators will be installed on all stations with a footfall of more than 25,000 per day.

Station upgrades

600 stations will be upgraded, including 400 to be redeveloped, progressively to enhance services, safety and security.

Social responsibility

Rainwater harvesting

Rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir w ...

with 1885 rainwater harvesting systems already installed at different locations by December 2016.Rain Water Harvesting System In Indian Railway
7 Dec 2016.

Reforestation

Reforestation Reforestation (occasionally, reafforestation) is the natural or intentional restocking of existing forests and woodlands (forestation) that have been depleted, usually through deforestation, but also after clearcutting. Management A debate ...

on the railway land and along the tracks is being undertaken.India Plants 50 Million Trees in One Day, Smashing World Record

National Geographic ''National Geographic'' (formerly the ''National Geographic Magazine'', sometimes branded as NAT GEO) is a popular American monthly magazine published by National Geographic Partners. Known for its photojournalism, it is one of the most widely ...

, July 2016.

References

{{Indian Railways Rail transport in India Proposed transport infrastructure in India Proposed infrastructure in India 2020s in India 2020s in rail transport