Indian Railway Industry

•  Indian Railway network is growing at a healthy rate. In the next five years, the Indian railway market will be the third-largest, accounting for 10% of the global market. Indian Railways, which is one of the country's biggest employers, can generate one million jobs, according to Mr Piyush Goyal, Union Minister for Railways and Coal.
• India is projected to account for 40% of the total global share of rail activity by 2050.
• Adarsh’ Station Scheme has been started since 2009-10 and presently, railway stations are upgraded/modernized based on identified need of providing better-enhanced passenger amenities at stations. Under the scheme, 1253 stations have been identified for development, out of which 1201 stations so far have been developed. The remaining 52 stations are planned to be developed by 2021- 22.
•  The Indian Railway launched the National Rail Plan, Vision 2024, to accelerate the implementation of critical projects, such as multitrack congested routes, achieve 100% electrification, upgrade the speed to 160 kmph on Delhi-Howrah and Delhi-Mumbai routes, upgrade the speed to 130 kmph on all other golden quadrilateral-golden diagonal (GQ/GD) routes and eliminate all level crossings on the GQ/GD route, by 2024.
• In January 2021, the Ministry of Railway rolled out a new iron ore policy governing the allocation of rakes and transportation of iron 

Growing demand: Increasing urbanisation and rising income (both urban and rural) is driving growth in the passenger segment. 

 Higher Investments: FDI inflows in railway-related components stood at US$ 1.23 billion from April 2000 to June 2021. Rail infrastructure will see an investment of Rs 50 lakh crore (US$ 715.41 billion) by 2030. 

Policy support: The Government has increased the scope of PPP beyond providing maintenance and other such supporting roles. PPP is being utilised in areas such as the redevelopment of stations, building private freight terminals and private container train operations. In January 2021, the Ministry of Railways rolled out a new iron ore policy governing the allocation of rakes and transportation of iron ore. 

Attractive opportunities: Indian Railways is developing and creating technology in areas such as signalling and telecommunication with 15,000 km being converted into automatic signalling and 37,000 km to be fitted with ‘KAVACH’, the domestically developed Train Collision Avoidance System

Key Trends

• Solar Panels - Solar panels on the rooftop of narrow gauge trains.
• Bullet Trains - $17 Billion investment for 35 bullet trains by 2022.
• Light-weight aluminium coaches - To reduce the travelling time between the metropolis.
• Electrification - 33,000 km to be electrified by 2023 for $2 billion annually.
• Re-development of Stations - Re-development of over 400 stations across the country.
• Multi-tracking
• Gauge Conversion - Gauge conversion of 2200 km by 2030 for $2 billion annually. 
• Dedicated Freight Corridors - Construction of 6 dedicated freight corridors.