COVER STORY
Touching Bullet Speeds Investment opportunities in Indian Railways
Industry Scenario The Indian Railways' freight revenues in 2020 were worth $11.8 bn. Coal and Coke had the highest freight revenue during this period.
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ndia has the fourth-largest railway system in the world, behind only US, Russia and China. The Indian rail network has 123,542 km of total tracks over a 67,415 km route and about 7,300 stations. The railways run close to 13,000 passenger trains that carry over 23 mn passengers daily. The Indian Railways transported over 109.68MT of freight in November 2020. Indian Railways is the single largest employer in India and eighth largest in the world; employing close to 1.4 mn people. • • • •
Vision 2024 has been envisaged to achieve targets of 2024 MT freight loading by 2024 Indian Railways envisages a prospective investment of $190 bn in the next 5 years Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail project sanctioned at a total cost of $15 bn Railway Electrification works completed on a total of 5,782 Route kms during the year
100% FDI allowed in railway infrastructure under the automatic route.
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URBAN TRANSPORT INFRASTRUCTURE MAY 2021
Indian Railways aspires to add 1.5% to the country’s GDP by building infrastructure to support 40% modal freight share of the economy. The Indian Railways clocked a 3% increase in freight revenue in 2020-21 and the quantum of goods loaded grew by 2%. Two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFC), one on the Western route (Jawaharlal Nehru Port to Dadri) and another on the Eastern route (Ludhiana to Dankuni), have been fast-tracked. The Indian Railways is looking to electrify the entire network by 2025 which will lead to energy savings of $1.55 bn. India Railways is focused on: • 3,360 km dedicated freight corridors by June 2022 • 700 stations to be fed with solar power in the medium term • The Ministry of Railways has decided to redevelop 90 railway stations into world-class transit hubs • Creating private investments worth $4 bn through Public-Private Partnerships • 100% electrification of Broad-Gauge routes to be completed by December, 2023
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