Indian Railways | Today and Tomorrow

Image of Indian railways train passing through a scenic landscape.

Posted By:Infrabazaar



An Overview:-

The Indian Railways is among the world’s largest railway networks and has strongly emerged as the main vehicle for the country’s socio economic development. It caters to the transportation needs of the country, while also bringing together the diverse geographies and assisting in promoting national integration. Furthermore, the railway network is also ideal for long-distance travel and movement of bulk commodities, apart from being an energy efficient and economic mode of conveyance and transport. The 64,600-km network is spread across 7,146 stations, with 19,000 trains operating the routes daily.

India's railway network is recognized as one of the largest railway systems in the world under single management. The Government of India has focused on investing on railway infrastructure by making investor-friendly policies. It has moved quickly to enable foreign direct investment (FDI) in railways to improve infrastructure for freight and high-speed trains. At present, private sector companies are also looking to invest in rail projects.

Government Initiatives:-

The Railway Ministry is taking major initiatives in completely revamping the entire Railway Infrastructure.

  • A memorandum of understanding (MoU) and an Action Plan have been signed between the Government of India and the People's Republic of China to improve technical cooperation in the railways sector.
  • An MoU was signed between Government of India and Czech Railways of The Czech Republic on technical cooperation in the field of the railways sector.
  • The government has cleared a proposal to allow 100 per cent FDI in railway infrastructure via automatic route. This channel does not require prior government approvals.
  • The Railway Board is considering the implementation of the 106 recommendations of the High Level Safety Review Committee pertaining to general safety matters, empowerment at working level, vacancies in critical safety category, organizational structure, shortage of critical safety spares, human resource development with focus on education and training research, and safety architecture, among others.
  • The Union Cabinet has given the green signal for establishing a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar, Karnataka. The unit will produce 500 coaches per annum at a projected cost of Rs 1,460.92 crore with active participation of the Karnataka government.

Road Ahead

The already massive network of the Indian Railways is growing at a healthy rate, given the rise in population and a growing economy that offers immense growth potential. In the next five years, the Indian railway market will be the 3rd largest, accounting for 10 per cent of the global market, with Metro rail going to be 70 per cent of the railway market in India.

In coming days there will be various new railway projects such as high speed rails, bullet trains and metro projects. The Indian railway is getting ready with solutions and capabilities, Toshiba came forward with customers and partners to contribute the constructing transportation infrastructure with India, it is crucial for India’s further economic growth and people’s better life.

An overseas expert has suggested that India needs or can build high speed railways. Like in other countries, France mil of TGV track cost of   £15m, and many more through hills, California's bullet train is estimated at £70bn and will take more than 20 years to complete. In Britain the HS2 project has been priced at £33bn. In India if the land rates will be cheaper, thus would be immense, says experts. New stations would have to be build in leading cities with bight safety issues,

The Indian railways have played a key role right from the Days of Struggle of Independence to till date. Hence, the initiatives which are in different stages of implementation like doubling of tracks, electrification, new track lying, changing of gauge etc., will only help rise The Indian Railways from deep slumber and race towards modernization.



#IndianRailways #RailwayInfrastructure #FDI #HighSpeedTrains #SafetyMeasures #Modernization #GrowthPotential #MetroSystems #SocioeconomicDevelopment