Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah will on 27 September 2026 inaugurate, lay foundation stones for, and flag off a series of railway projects worth more than ₹1,542 crore at Sabarmati in Ahmedabad. The portfolio includes the country's first LNG-powered train, the Kavach automatic train protection system covering 404 km, and a ₹700-crore WAG-12 locomotive maintenance shed — a rare single-day cluster of safety, capacity, and clean-fuel milestones for the Western Railway.

Key Projects Being Launched

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, Deputy Chief Minister Harsh Sanghavi, Minister of State Darshana Vaghela, MPs Hasmukh Patel and Dinesh Makwana, and Ahmedabad Mayor Hitesh Barot are among those scheduled to attend. The programme covers five broad railway domains: safety, signalling, freight capacity, alternative fuel adoption, and line capacity expansion.

The event includes the inauguration of the WAG-12 Sabarmati Locomotive Maintenance Shed, the commissioning of Automatic Block Signalling (ABS) on key Ahmedabad Division sections, the laying of the foundation stone for Kavach on the Ahmedabad-Palanpur and Ahmedabad-Samakhiyali sections, and the doubling of the 21-km Sabarmati-Sarkhej railway line.

India's First LNG-Powered Train: How It Works

The LNG initiative centres on two 1,400 HP Driving Power Cars (DPCs) at the Sabarmati Integrated Coaching Depot, which have been retrofitted with a diesel-plus-LNG dual-fuel system. Both DPCs have completed more than 2,000 km of field trials. Each unit carries an LNG tank of approximately 2,200 litres, capable of holding roughly 850–900 kg of usable LNG, sufficient for around 1,600 km of operation on a full fill.

According to trial data from the Railways, LNG can substitute up to around 40% of diesel consumption. The system is designed to let the engine switch between the two fuels based on availability. One DPC could save around ₹11.9 lakh annually, while an eight-coach rake could save around ₹23.9 lakh per year, according to one set of trial figures. A separate Railways release estimates annual savings of around ₹25 lakh per DPC. Beyond cost savings, the system is expected to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter.

Kavach and Automatic Block Signalling

The Kavach automatic train protection system is being deployed over 404 km of the Ahmedabad Division at an estimated cost of around ₹411 crore. This spans 157 km of the Ahmedabad-Palanpur section and 247 km of the Ahmedabad-Samakhiyali section. Kavach is engineered to reduce the risk of head-on and rear-end collisions and to prevent trains from exceeding prescribed speed limits. Its commissioning on the Ahmedabad-Samakhiyali main line has already extended automatic train protection to the block sections covered under the project.

Complementing Kavach, Automatic Block Signalling has been installed across 122.57 km on the Sabarmati-Kalol-Bhandu Motidau and Sabarmati-Sanand-Jakhwada sections at a cost of around ₹118.83 crore. ABS is designed to maintain safe headways between trains and increase the number of services that can run on the same route, improving punctuality and operational efficiency.

WAG-12 Locomotive Shed and Sabarmati-Sarkhej Doubling

The Sabarmati Locomotive Maintenance Shed, built at an estimated cost of around ₹700 crore, is designed to home and maintain 300 WAG-12 HHP electric locomotives, each rated at around 12,000 HP and intended for heavy and long-haul freight operations. A Maintenance Service Agreement has been signed between Madhepura Electric Locomotive Private Limited and the Sabarmati Locomotive Shed. As of now, 154 WAG-12 locomotives have been allocated to the shed; the remaining units are planned to arrive by 2027–28.

The 21-km Sabarmati-Sarkhej doubling project, estimated at around ₹313.27 crore, is targeted for completion by March 2028. It covers Sabarmati, Gandhigram, Vastrapur, and Sarkhej stations and involves work on 16 minor bridges, 13 road underbridges, one major bridge, and six level crossings. The project is also expected to strengthen connectivity toward the Sarkhej-Dholera industrial corridor.

What Comes Next

With the remaining 146 WAG-12 locomotives due by 2027–28 and the Sabarmati-Sarkhej doubling targeting completion by March 2028, Saturday's inauguration marks the start rather than the end of a multi-year infrastructure build-out for the Ahmedabad Division. How quickly Kavach is operationalised across all 404 km — and whether the LNG dual-fuel model is scaled beyond the initial two DPCs — will determine whether this cluster of projects delivers its projected safety and efficiency gains.