Indian Railways had deployed ₹1,14,973 crore — roughly 39 per cent of its total budgetary allocation of ₹2,93,030 crore for 2026-27 — by the end of July 2026, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, 5 August. The expenditure has been channelled into safety upgrades, the rollout of the indigenous collision-avoidance system Kavach, and a large-scale push to raise permissible train speeds across the network.

Kavach Rollout and Upgrades

Version 4.0 of Kavach — the Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system developed indigenously — has been commissioned over 2,633 route kilometres as of 31 July, covering critical stretches of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah high-density corridors. The latest version brings higher location accuracy, improved signal relay in larger yards, optical fibre-based station-to-station interfaces, and direct integration with electronic interlocking systems — features designed to enable faster, wider deployment.

Trackside Kavach implementation now spans 21,794 route km, covering the Golden Quadrilateral, the Golden Diagonal, and other high-density sections. The system has been fitted in 6,290 locomotives, with work underway to equip an additional 7,190 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU rakes. Total spending on Kavach works stood at ₹3,875 crore till June, against a 2026-27 allocation of ₹2,066 crore.

Speed Upgrades Across the Network

The length of tracks capable of supporting speeds of 130 kmph or above has grown from 5,036 km in 2014 to 24,173 km in 2026 — a nearly fivefold increase. Approximately 81 per cent of the entire railway network can now handle speeds of 110 kmph or higher, up sharply from about 40 per cent in 2014. Under Mission Raftaar, the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah corridors are being upgraded for operations at up to 160 kmph.

Safety Spending and Infrastructure

Expenditure on safety-related activities has risen from ₹39,200 crore in 2013-14 to ₹1,20,389 crore in 2026-27, according to Vaishnaw. This comes amid sustained public scrutiny of rail safety following a series of high-profile accidents in recent years.

On the infrastructure front, Indian Railways commissioned 36,429 km of new lines between 2014 and 2026, averaging 8.32 km per day — nearly double the 4.2 km per day pace recorded during 2009-14. As of 1 April, 514 projects — comprising 169 new lines, 29 gauge conversion projects, and 316 doubling projects — covering roughly 40,000 km and valued at approximately ₹8.31 lakh crore are under implementation. Of these, 12,583 km have been commissioned at a cumulative expenditure of ₹3.05 lakh crore.

Workforce Training

Indian Railways trains around six lakh employees annually through its network of training institutes, with increasing emphasis on digital technologies, logistics, and modern freight operations, the minister said.

With over 60 per cent of the FY27 capex still to be deployed in the remaining eight months of the financial year, execution pace in the second half will be closely watched by both Parliament and the infrastructure sector.