Indian Railways invested nearly Rs 1.15 lakh crore in the first four months of FY27, which is 39% of the record Rs 2.93 lakh crore capital expenditure (capex) allocated in the Union Budget as the national transporter continues to step up investments in areas like safety, capacity expansion and network modernisation. 

In a statement on Wednesday, the railway ministry said a significant portion of the investment has gone towards safety-related works. The ministry said expenditure on safety has increased steadily over the years, contributing to a sharp decline in railway accidents.

One of the key initiatives has been the rollout of the indigenous Kavach automatic train protection (ATP) system. So far, Kavach 4.0 has been commissioned over 2,633 route kilometres, including 1,423 route km on the Delhi-Mumbai corridor and 1,210 route km on the Delhi-Howrah corridor. The Railways has utilised Rs 3,875 crore on Kavach works up to June 2026.

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Besides, the transporter is pursuing one of its largest capacity expansion programmes. According to the ministry, 514 infrastructure projects covering around 40,000 km have been sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 8.31 lakh crore. These projects include new railway lines, doubling, gauge conversion and other network augmentation works aimed at improving line capacity and easing congestion on high-density routes.

Further, the ministry highlighted investments in human resource development. This includes around 600,000 railway employees undergo training every year through the railways’ centralised training institutes and Gati Shakti Vishwavidyalaya.

“Training programmes in Indian Railways are designed to meet the functional and competency requirements of various categories of railway employees and are periodically reviewed and updated in line with evolving technologies, operational needs and contemporary skill requirements,” the statement said.

Railways’ capex allocation remained largely unchanged at around Rs 2.6 lakh crore between FY24 and FY26, before rising to a record Rs 2.93 lakh crore in FY27. A major chunk of the capital outlay in recent years has been funded through gross budgetary support (GBS) from the government with minor contribution coming from extra budgetary resources (EBR) such as public-private partnership (PPP) and market borrowings.