LUCKNOW, November 2025 — At a recent CII–RDSO conference in Lucknow, rail‑industry experts underscored a strategic push toward smarter, technology-driven rail operations in India. The emphasis is on using artificial intelligence, predictive maintenance, and modern signaling and safety systems (notably the indigenous Kavach Automatic Train Protection System) to improve service reliability, safety, and efficiency.

RDSO officials noted that track‑upgrade work has increased the “speed potential” on many routes from earlier limits of 75 km/h to 160 km/h and that there is a long‑term goal to enable speeds up to 200 km/h on selected corridors.

In line with these ambitions, the 2025–26 national railway budget has approved a major expansion of rolling stock: 200 new Vande Bharat trains, 100 Amrit Bharat trains, and 50 Namo Bharat rapid‑rail sets are to be manufactured over the next 2–3 years. In addition, a large package of infrastructure upgrades including new lines, doubling/quadrupling of tracks, improved coaches, and safety improvements has been planned.

These developments mark a significant modernization push for Indian Railways aiming to make travel faster, safer, and more reliable. However, while ambitions are high, the success of the vision depends on thorough upgrades of track infrastructure, signaling, maintenance capacity, and careful rollout.