NEW DELHI: Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Saturday announced a massive railway overhaul for 2026 with 52 reforms in 52 weeks. Highlighting that the Indian Railways has become the second-largest cargo carrier in the world, the Railways Minister said that around 180 reforms have been implemented over the past 10 years, following the Prime Minister’s vision for the railways.
The first reform for 2026 focuses on improving onboarding services in Railways, with proper end-to-end cleaning of the Railways. Over the next three years, this reform will be implemented across all trains through extensive use of technology. There will be well-defined service level agreements.
The second reform is related to ‘gati shakti cargo.’ With this reform, the count of Gati Shakti terminals will increase from 124 to more than 500 in the next five years. Under the new reform, the biggest change is that these terminals will now include material processing.
Under the reforms outlined, an integrated model will be implemented, and staff will disembark from reserved coaches at designated stations and board general coaches to clean them to the same standard as reserved coaches, said Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Also, control centres will be set up to monitor cleaning. AI-generated images will capture and analyse cleanliness.
The Union Minister also revealed that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, chaired by PM Modi, has approved three projects of the Ministry of Railways with a total cost of Rs. 18,509 crore, covering 12 districts across Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Kasara – Manmad 3rd and 4th line
Delhi – Ambala 3rd and 4th line
Ballari – Hosapete 3rd and 4th line
The projects will also generate direct employment for about 265 lakh human-days during construction.
The initiative will improve travel convenience, reduce logistic cost, decrease oil imports and contribute to lower CO2 emissions, supporting sustainable and efficient rail operations.
The three multi-tracking projects will increase the existing network of Indian Railways by about 389 kms.
Agencies