Lucknow: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), in collaboration with the Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO), organised a major conference on “Emerging Technologies in Railways” in Lucknow on 28 November 2025. The event brought together domain experts, industry leaders and policymakers to deliberate on innovations, technological advancements and new opportunities across India’s rapidly modernising railway sector.
Addressing the gathering as Chief Guest, Uday Borwankar, Director General, RDSO, highlighted the organisation’s pivotal role since 1957 as Indian Railways’ sole research and design unit. He noted that track speed capacity has increased from 75 kmph to 160 kmph, with a target of 200 kmph in the future. Passenger coach capacity has expanded significantly—from accommodating 500–700 passengers to nearly 2,000 per rake, while freight capacity has risen from 150 tonnes per axle to nearly 250 tonnes.
Borwankar said these technological milestones align with India’s vision for a “Developed Bharat by 2047”. He emphasised the growing scope for industry participation in R&D, signalling, communication systems, anti-collision technology and the high-capacity 2×25 kV traction distribution system. He also underlined the transformative potential of the indigenous Kavach protection system and RDSO’s collaborations with IITs and scientific institutions on AI, sustainable technologies and predictive maintenance.
Presiding over the conference, Abhishek Sarraf, Chairman of the Session and Managing Director, Avadh Rail Infra Ltd, underscored Indian Railways’ role as the backbone of national growth. He cited major announcements from the Rail Budget 2025–26, including:
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200 new Vande Bharat trains,
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100 Amrit Bharat trains,
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50 Namo Bharat rapid rail rakes, and
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17,500 new general non-AC coaches.
He also noted India’s march towards becoming the world’s second-largest freight rail system, with a target of 1.6 billion tonnes of freight movement this fiscal year. Safety investments are projected to grow to ₹1.16 lakh crore, while PPP investments have touched ₹2.64 lakh crore.
Sushil Kumar, Managing Director, Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, highlighted the complementary role of metro networks in urban and inter-city mobility. Under the Viksit UP 2047 vision, Uttar Pradesh plans to develop a 1,500 km metro network, including over 200 km in Lucknow and 550 km across Kanpur and Agra. Seven more cities are proposed for metro expansion as the state pursues its $1 trillion economy target by 2030 and $6 trillion by 2047.
Speaking at the event, Raneeth Rana, Associate Vice President, Jindal Stainless Ltd, said Indian Railways is poised for exponential growth, projecting service delivery to 12 trillion passengers annually and 8.2 billion tonnes of freight by 2030. He identified key areas of efficiency enhancement—advanced materials, capacity expansion, Industry 4.0 technologies and smart manufacturing.
Amit Srivastava, Executive Director (Research), RDSO, highlighted business opportunities arising from ongoing railway modernisation. From MSMEs to large enterprises, he said the rail ecosystem offers prospects across manufacturing, technology implementation and service delivery. He noted recent milestones including 17 new Vande Bharat trains, 228 coaches built between April and October 2024, 91 Gati Shakti multimodal cargo terminals and 17 PPP projects worth ₹16,434 crore.
He also emphasised Indian Railways’ push toward renewable energy, with 375 MW solar and 103 MW wind capacity already installed and a target of 30 GW by 2029–30.
The conference featured three technical sessions on:
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Increasing speed and throughput in Indian Railways
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Emerging opportunities in the rail value chain
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Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance
Over 200 representatives from industry, RDSO, research bodies and academic institutions participated, making it one of the year’s most significant industry–railway dialogues.
