Future of rail transport in India

The Indian Government is undertaking several initiatives to upgrade its aging railway infrastructure and enhance its quality of service.

The Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) is undertaking all research, designs and standardisation work for modernisation, National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) is overlooking the implementation of high-speed train programs across the country, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCI) is the agency undertaking development of freight corridors around the country and Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation (IRSDC) is engaged in railway stations upgrade and development programs.

[2][3] Currently, Vande Bharat Express is the fastest train running on 66 routes with highest trail speed of 183 km/h, with potential of reaching up to 200 km/h.

[4] Mission Raftaar was announced in the Railway Budget of 2016-17 with the target of increasing the average speed of freight and superfast mail/express trains.

Mission Raftar compromises several measures have been taken to achieve the medium- and long-term goals of Mission Raftaar, including the construction of tracks, bridges, rail flyovers, bypasses, right-powering of trains, third and fourth line construction, replacement of conventional loco-hauled trains by MEMUs, changes in timetable, and modification of the 1×25 KV traction system to the 2×25 KV traction system, among others.

[7] Indian Railways have planned to introduce Vande Bharat trains in inner parts of India such as Ranchi-Puri, Raipur-Ranchi, Indore-Pune, Raipur-Varanasi, Pune-Goa, Goa-Mysore, Gokarna-Bangalore, Agartala-Guwahati, Indore-Lucknow to increase connectivity and economic development.

[10] 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.

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.

[18] A special committee has recommended the trains be run on an elevated corridor for an additional cost of ₹10,000 crore (US$1 billion), to avoid the difficulties of acquiring land, building underpasses and constructing protective fencing.

[22] 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).

[26] Indian Railways is now moving to manufacturing high-end aluminium self-propelled 160 km/hour indigenous Make in India coaches that require no locomotive and are 10% cheaper than the comparable imports.

[31] 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.

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.

DPR provided three feasible terminal end-points options in Mumbai, namely Dadar, Santacruz and the international airport.

[35] Under a INR 1 trillion initiative,[36] 600[36] railway stations will be redeveloped by monetizing 2700 acres of spare railway land under the ₹1,070,000 crore (US$124 billion) plan undertaken by Indian Railway Stations Development Corporation by converging it with the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation and Smart Cities Mission in collaboration with Ministry of Urban Development, Rail Land Development Authority and National Buildings Construction Corporation.

In 2012, MoD had identified following 14 geostrategic new rail lines to be built near China, Pakistan and Nepal border for the rapid and easier deployment of troops while simultaneously undertaking development of 73 similar geostrategic India-China Border Roads (ICBR) roads as border rail and road transport development in India is lagging much behind China:[38][39] China has built lines up to Shigatse in Tibet, with plans to connect it to Nepal and further to India.

Indian Railways is converting its entire network to 1,676 mm (5 ft 6 in) broad gauge to enhance viability.

[58] 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.

[55] 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.

[66][67] On 11 August 2021, IRCTC introduced a smart card system through which unreserved train tickets which can be bought either at railway stations or online.

[55] In September 2015, the IR and Google announced a joint initiative intent on delivering high-speed wi-fi access across 400 major railway stations.

[69] The Railtel-Google free high-speed public WiFi service is currently available at Mumbai Central, Chennai Central, Chennai Egmore, Madurai Junction, Coimbatore Junction, Chandigarh, Old Delhi, Pune, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal, Ranchi, Raipur, Vijayawada, Kacheguda, Ernakulum, Thiruvananthapuram, Thrissur, Jabalpur, Vishakhapatnam, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Patna, Guwahati, Ujjain, Allahabad, Howrah, Varanasi, etc.