Following are some of the major investments and developments in India’s railways sector:

• Revenue growth has been strong over the years. Indian Railways’ revenue reached US$ 5.21 billion in the third quarter of FY 2023.
• The total passenger revenue stood at US$ 8.51 billion during 2022-23.
• In FY 2023 (until October 2022) passenger traffic stood at 3.61 billion.
• Total revenue from traffic is estimated to be Rs. 2,64,600 crore (US$ 32.18 billion), which comprises 99.8% of the total revenue.
• From April-January 2023, railway freight loading of 1243.46 MT was achieved against last year’s loading of 1159.08 MT which depicted an improvement of 7%.
• FDI inflows in railway-related components stood at US$ 1.23 billion from April 2000- March 2023.
• In the case of freight earnings, it experienced a year-on-year growth of 20.84%. It stood at US$ 18.55 billion in FY22 as compared to FY21 which was at US$ 15.35 billion.
• Freight remains the key revenue-earning segment for Indian Railways, accounting for 75.2% of the total revenue in FY22, followed by the passenger segment.
• Indian Railways aims to achieve 100% electrification of all broad-gauge routes by 2023.
• In November 2021, Indian Railways announced that ~102 semi-high-speed Vande Bharat Expresses are expected to commence operations by 2024.
• In July 2021, the South-Central Railway zone announced infrastructure development by doubling the maximum permissible speed to 100 km per hour on the Godavari Bridge. The initiative gave a major boost to the Indian Railways on infrastructure modernisation.
• Since the launch of first ‘Kisan Rail’ service on August 7, 2020, the Indian Railways have operated a total of 1,040 Kisan Rail services by transporting ~3.38 lakh tonnes of consignment across 72 routes in the country until July 30, 2021.
• The Indian Railways is likely to deliver 58 supercritical as well as 68 critical projects worth more than Rs.1,15,000 crore (US$ 15.44 billion) in the next few years. 29 supercritical projects—spanning 1,044 km and costing Rs. 11,588 crore (US$ 1.5 billion)—have been commissioned. Four projects worth Rs. 1,408 crore (US$ 189.05 million) have been completed and the remaining projects are targeted for completion by March 2024.
• On July 25, 2021, the Indian Railways Station Development Corporation (IRSDC), a nodal agency of the Ministry of Railways spearheading the re-development of railway stations across the country, claimed that the two railway stations will be redeveloped at an indicative cost of Rs. 1,285 crore (US$ 172.54 million) in four years.
• The Indian Railways has decided to undertake electrification of Broad Gauge (BG) rail lines in a mission mode and is likely to complete the process by 2023-24. Of the 64,689 km of broad-gauge route, 45,881 km has been electrified and the remaining 18,808 km route is yet to be electrified. About Rs. 21,000 crore (US$ 2.8 billion) is estimated to be spent on electrification of the remaining BG routes.
• In January 2021, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) announced that it has exported 125 cars to Nepal via the Indian Railways. The export is claimed to be eco-friendly and the first-ever by the company. With this step, the company is aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by 20,260 tonnes.
• The Indian Railways completed eight major capacity enhancement projects by taking advantage of the coronavirus lockdown. These projects included three supercritical projects with a combined length of 68km, three critical projects with a combined length of 45km, upgradation of the entire 389km railway line from Jhajha in Bihar to Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Junction in Uttar Pradesh and a new 82km port connectivity line to Paradip.
• As a part of the Railways’ plans to upgrade its network, the Ministry announced that all non-AC sleeper coaches will be replaced by AC coaches for trains running >130 kmph. This move has been taken as a technical necessity for high-speed trains with the bonus of improving the passenger experience.