Contribution of Railways

September 12, 2026

Recently, there has been much news about the expansion of road and air routes. Road and Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari was given special praise for revolutionizing the construction of four-lane roads and expressways across the country. The truth is that rail remains the most convenient mode of transport for millions of people in this country. Several decisions were made on rail expansion at the Indian Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. These included decisions to increase the number of trains and improve transportation, as well as multi-tracking projects (four-line projects) in several states and the construction of freight corridors. The Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes are crucial from a commercial perspective. Decisions were also made to build freight corridors here to eliminate trucks as the sole mode of transport on roads.

Additionally, an announcement was made to ensure punctuality of trains within the Indian Railways system. Train delays are a major flaw of the Indian Railways, leading to unnecessary congestion and the potential for accidents. In the coming days, Indian Railways is planning to significantly expand its capacity. Seven high-density rail corridors across the country will be converted to four-lanes in a phased manner. This will clearly increase the speed of trains. The corridors selected for this purpose total 11,000 kilometers, representing 40 percent of India’s total rail routes. These facilities have been announced to be provided soon to increase the speed of Indian Railways. We are dreaming of running indigenous bullet trains in our country by May next year. We still lag behind other countries, as our trains are far from achieving the target of achieving an average speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

Therefore, even our indigenous bullet trains will not run at the same speed as those in foreign countries. Rail facilities are being expanded in India. Multi-tracking and freight corridors are being built, but along with this expansion, it is very important to pay attention to the quality of these new facilities. Currently, despite computerization, heartbreaking news of train accidents is received daily. Sometimes the computer is making mistakes, sometimes it is due to human negligence. Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said after the cabinet meeting that we are completely serious about increasing the speed of not only passenger trains, but also freight trains. We know that the country is developing rapidly.

Production and investment are increasing. In such a situation, it would be a grave mistake to ignore the expansion of freight trains. A recurring question about Indian Railways is why only affluent passengers are afforded reserved seats after paying higher fees. Ordinary people, laborers, and others also travel on these trains, so why haven’t everyone been able to find seats yet? This discrimination shouldn’t exist. Train coaches appear overcrowded amid the crowds. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, concessional travel for senior citizens was withdrawn. Despite much demand, it has only been partially restored. This privilege should be fully restored for senior citizens. To develop the Indian tourism sector, international-level rail facilities must be provided to tourists worldwide. Only then will Indian Railways be considered number one.