Budget 2026: Rail safety outlay likely to top ₹1.3 trillion amid scrutiny on accidents

The proposed outlay, around 12% higher than the current year’s budget, would be directed towards maintaining rolling stock and critical infrastructure, including track renewals, and the rollout of India’s indigenous automatic train protection system—Kavach, one of the people said, requesting anonymity.

The Indian Railways faces sustained public and political focus on safety. The planned increase marks a significant shift in the railways’ capital priorities, with safety spending expected to account for nearly half of its total capital expenditure in FY27, which is expected to rise to about ₹2.76 trillion from ₹2.52 trillion this fiscal year.

Over the past decade, the national transporter has sharply reduced accidents per million train kilometres. Yet safety remains in focus after a string of mishaps. The deadliest accident so far this year was a collision near Bilaspur, where a MEMU passenger train overshot a red signal and hit a stationary goods train, killing 11 and injuring over 20.

Queries emailed to the ministries of railways and finance on Monday remained unanswered till press time.

Safety gets priority

The Railways reported 31 accidents in FY25 and 10 “consequential" accidents in the current fiscal through November. Consequential accidents—those involving collisions, fires, or derailments that lead to loss of life or property—have seen a long-term decline. Between FY15 and FY24, 678 such accidents resulted in 748 deaths.

However, officials highlight a 73% improvement in operational safety metrics. Accidents per million train kilometres (APMTKM) fell from 0.11 in FY15 to 0.03 in FY24. To sustain this trend, the government is extending the Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK), which has already seen over ₹1.08 trillion in expenditure for upgrading critical assets.

Mint reported on 19 November that Railways plans to step up capital spending next year.

The safety budget for FY26 stands at ₹1.16 trillion, only a 2% increase over FY25’s ₹1.14 trillion. In FY24, Railways spent ₹1.01 trillion on safety works, compared with ₹87,327 crore in FY23.

Kavach has been adopted as India’s national automatic train protection (ATP) system, which automatically applies brakes if a loco pilot fails to respond, improving safety even in adverse weather. Kavach has so far been implemented on 1,465 route kilometres and 121 locomotives, with Kavach 4.0 being rolled out across 15,512 route kilometres. The total operational Kavach coverage at present is just over 2% of the total rail network of around 67,000 km.

Spending isn’t enough

Experts argue that funding constraints are not the main challenge.

“There is no shortage of funds for Indian Railways, whether for safety, renewal of tracks, new rolling stock or station development," said Shubhranshu, a railroad professional and former chief of Rail Wheel Plant, Bela, who also led the design and production team of the Vande Bharat Express. “Over ₹1 trillion each is already committed towards Kavach, track renewals, upgradation and new rolling stock over the next few years," he said.

However, he cautioned that safety outcomes depend more on organizational discipline than capital outlays.

“Most of safety comes from proper upkeep of existing systems, training, accountability and top-down motivation. These don’t require much money. Mere investments don’t deliver safety," Shubhranshu added.

Technology-led safety

Expenditure on safety-related projects rose 2.5 times—from ₹70,273 crore in FY05–FY14 to ₹1.78 lakh crore during FY15–FY24. Track renewal spending increased 2.33 times over the same period, from ₹47,018 crore to ₹1.09 lakh crore.

In FY26, the railways' capex allocation is ₹2.62 trillion, while the spend on safety-related projects has been kept at ₹1.16 trillion. It was ₹1.14 trillion out of a total capex expenditure of ₹2.6 trillion in FY25; ₹1.01 trillion of the ₹2.40 trillion spent in FY24; and ₹87,000 crore of the ₹2.03 trillion spent in FY23.

The higher safety allocation will largely fund the maintenance of tracks, locomotives and rolling stock, signalling upgrades, the replacement of mechanical signalling with electronic interlocking, the interlocking of unmanned level crossings, complete track circuiting, the installation of high-strength rails, GPS-based fog safety devices and the expansion of Kavach.

In FY26, Railways allocated ₹22,800 crore for track renewals, ₹58,895 crore for rolling stock and maintenance, ₹8,601 crore for traffic facilities and ₹6,150 crore for electrification.

The rising safety spend has also created opportunities for global mobility majors such as Siemens and Alstom to win locomotive to signalling system projects.

“The reduction in accidents and fatalities is largely due to long-term measures such as elimination of unmanned level crossings, improved tracks and introduction of LHB coaches," said Sudhanshu Mani, former general manager of Indian Railways and architect of the Vande Bharat Express.

“The need now is to move towards a zero-failure regime, which requires meaningful use of AI to detect near-misses and faster rollout of fail-safe signalling systems. Kavach showed promise, but its slow proliferation has been disappointing," he said.

Signalling modernization has accelerated, with electronic interlocking stations rising 3.5 times to 2,964 during FY15–FY24, and automatic block signalling expanding from 1,486 km to 2,497 km. Production of safer LHB coaches rose nearly 16-fold to 36,933, while complete track circuiting has been implemented at 6,609 stations.

“Indian Railways’ growing emphasis on safety is driving a shift towards technology-led interventions," said Sourajit Mukherjee, director and CEO of E2E Rail and Nova Control Technologix.

“The adoption of Kavach, electronic interlocking, axle counters and LTE-based train radio systems reflects a transition away from mechanical signalling, contributing to a sustained decline in accidents," he said.

Nova has partnered with Tata Elxsi to co-develop Kavach under the government’s Atmanirbhar Bharat and Make in India initiatives.