Indian Railway – New milestones and what is NEXT

The 162-year-old Indian Railways (IR) is a mammoth national asset that operates more than 19,000 trains and 7,112 stations, being Asia’s 2nd-largest and the world’s 4th-largest railway system. By enabling geographic connectivity, citizen mobility, and commercial activity, as well as providing world-class logistics and transportation infrastructure, IR plays a critical role in facilitating the country’s economic and social development.

During the Financial Year 2022–23, Indian Railways has achieved many milestones in various categories, including freight loading, electrification, new line/double/gauge conversion, locomotive production, and the integration of technology for ensuring safety. In terms of Freight Loading & Revenue, Indian railways loaded 1512 MT during 2022–23 as compared to 1418 MT during FY 2021–22, registering an increase of 6.63%.

This is the highest ever loading for IR in a Financial Year and it has achieved the revenue of Rs. 2.44 Lakh crore as compared to Rs. 1.91 lakh crore during FY 2021–22, registering an increase of 27.75%. Whilst 6,542 RKMs of electrification have been achieved in IR history during 2022–23, The previous highest electrification was 6,366 RKM during 2021–22, registering an increase of 2.76%. In the (New Line, Doubling, and Gauge Conversion), 5243 km were achieved during 2022–23 as compared to 2909 km during 2021–22. During 2022–23, 538 stations were provided with electronic interlocking as compared to 421 stations during 2021–22, an increase of 27.79%.

Indian Railways today is on the cusp of rapid transformation, offering immense opportunities to the private sector in wide ranging areas from rolling stock manufacturing (locomotive and coaches/wagons), cutting edge signalling and telecommunication technologies and other safety enhancements, IT solutions, dedicated freight corridors and multi-modal logistics, station redevelopment/Railway land commercial development, Green energy/Clean energy and sustainability.