Key Points

Railways Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Lok Sabha, in a written reply, that during the last three years (2022-23, 2023-24, 2024-25) and the current FY26, 892 surveys (267 new line, 11 gauge conversion, and 614 doubling) of total length 61,462 km have been sanctioned across Indian Railways.

While from 2009-2014, the total tracks commissioned were for 7,599 km (4.2 km per day), a total of 34,428 km tracks were sanctioned (8.57 km per day) from 2014-2025.

"As a result of comprehensive planning of Railway projects under PM Gati Shakti National Master Plan and better coordination among various stakeholders, the sanction of service, sanction of projects and the pace of laying/commissioning of new tracks have also increased," the minister said.

The PM Gati Shakti Institutional mechanism is being extensively used for ground surveys, land records, alignment of route and has led to enhancement in the quality of preparation of the Detailed Project Report and reduction in project cost.

The Indian Railway launched the Amrit Bharat Station scheme aimed at providing world-class amenities to passengers and improving efficiency in train operations at railway stations. So far, 1,337 stations have been taken up for redevelopment in the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, according to the minister.

To enhance passenger experience and provide a comfortable journey, the state-of-the-art Vande Bharat trains, Amrit Bharat Trains and Namo Bharat Rapid Rail with modern features have been introduced on Indian Railways.

"To improve safety in train operations, Kavach has been developed as a National Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system on Indian Railways. The work of implementation of Kavach has been taken up in mission mode on Indian Railways," said the minister.

To improve the safety of train operations and road users, all unmanned level crossings on broad gauge have been eliminated. Further, it has also been decided to replace all manned level crossings in a phased manner by the construction of RoBs/RUBs, he added.

- IANS