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From high-speed rail projects to widespread electrification, investments worth Rs 17.4 lakh crore between fiscals 2016 and 2025 are helping modernise Indian Railways and reinforce it as a key driver of India’s progress to a high-income economy, a Crisil report said on Wednesday. 

Indian Railways has had a transformative journey over the past decade, marked by infrastructure development, technological advancement and a focus on enhancing operational efficiency.

Indeed, railway capex for the period has clocked a compound annual growth rate of 12 per cent, the report mentioned. The government has committed to advancing each of the core elements of a rail system — tracks, trains and the extensive land to support it all.

The report said that the initiatives such as expanding tracks, enhancing safety and high-speed rail, among others, will enable the railways to meet the demands of efficiency and competitiveness.

Meanwhile, Indian Railways needs to diversify its revenue sources to sustain the pace of development and bring its future expansion plans to fruition.

“Plans to construct 100,000 km of new railway tracks over the next 20 years, expand the Kavach safety system to cover 44,000 km within five years and equip 50,000 locomotives with this technology are within reach,” the report noted.

These initiatives, including the production of 400 new Vande Bharat trains in the next three years, necessitate additional revenue sources.

The report suggested that Indian Railways can adopt several strategies to diversify revenue streams, including leveraging real-time data for operational efficiency, introducing premium services and focusing on commercial development around railway stations to support expansion and address funding demands.

In the railway sector in the last 100 days, eight new railway line projects have been sanctioned, which are expected to generate 4.42 crore man-days of employment.

The development of Varanasi's Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport and new civil enclaves in Bagdogra (West Bengal) and Bihta (Bihar) have also been approved. Expansion plans for Bangalore Metro, Pune Metro, and Thane Integral Ring Metro Rail Project have also been set in motion.