Rail Plans Big — But Operational Hurdles Persist, Unsaid
Green Rail Ambition Meets Grounded Realities
New Delhi: Indian Railways today showcased a clutch of achievements that together sketch an image of a system pushing toward modernity while grappling with the realities of cost, access, infrastructure and credibility. The biggest headline is the completion of India’s first hydrogen-powered train set, a 10-coach, 2,400-kilowatt broad-gauge unit developed indigenously under the Research, Design & Standards Organisation’s specifications. Officials emphasise its Atmanirbhar Bharat credentials and its promise of zero carbon emissions, with a dedicated green hydrogen production plant being set up at Jind using electrolysis. The project is being pitched as a leap into next-generation traction. But the claims, as always, require a harder look.
Globally, hydrogen trains are not new. Germany’s Alstom Coradia iLint has been running since 2018, logging hundreds of thousands of passenger-kilometres across Germany and Austria and undergoing trials in the Netherlands. It demonstrated that hydrogen traction can replace diesel on non-electrified regional lines provided the routes are short-to-medium range and passenger volumes are moderate — a model suited to European geographies. Even so, hydrogen operations there have not been uniformly smooth: refuelling logistics, seasonal performance (especially winter), and cost economics remain unresolved.
India’s geography, passenger density, summer heat, axle loads and operational pressures bear little resemblance to European conditions. While Indian Railways frames its hydrogen project as a pilot, it side-steps any meaningful cost or infrastructure comparison with conventional electric or diesel traction. Without clarity on which routes will see deployment — low-density regional tracks similar to Europe or busier corridors where electrification already dominates — the hydrogen train remains more a statement of aspiration than a ready substitute. A long-term hydrogen ecosystem would demand consistent green hydrogen availability, refuelling infrastructure, safety and maintenance protocols, route-suitability assessments — none of which are detailed in the official narrative.
Even as the hydrogen project occupies symbolic space, Railways continues to publicise more traditional service-improvement measures. Data placed before Parliament lists 5,868 stations now hosting wheelchairs for Divyangjan and senior citizens, with licensed porters available at nominal rates when attendants are absent. Battery-operated vehicles have reached 79 major stations, though only a fraction operate free under CSR or publicity routes. Reservation systems now automatically allot lower berths to senior citizens and women above 45, where available; lower-berth quotas have been earmarked across Sleeper, 3AC, 2AC, suburban and general compartments. Passengers with disabilities (Divyangjan) are allotted fixed berth quotas in Sleeper, 3AC/3E, Second Sitting, Chair Car and dedicated Special Disabled Coaches; on-board staff are empowered to reassign vacant lower berths mid-journey. Concessional online ticketing has been extended to Divyangjan and certain categories of patients, with escorts eligible for the same concession. Exclusive PRS counters remain conditional on sustained demand; where thresholds are unmet, shared counters are mandated. Officials describe these accessibility measures as “ongoing,” without a clear completion deadline.
On the freight front, Railways reiterated its claim that freight rates have remained frozen since 2018 despite rising input costs. In parallel, passenger fares saw a “rationalisation” from 1 July 2025 — effectively a modest fare increase after a five-year hiatus. The increase varies by class, ranging from half a paisa to two paise per kilometre; general-class travel up to 500 kilometres reportedly remains free of increase, while suburban season tickets are exempted. The ministry frames this as a balance between affordability and necessary revenue adjustments.
Underneath, however, lie complicated numbers. Freight loading rose from 1,233 million tonnes in 2020–21 to 1,617 million tonnes in 2024–25, putting Indian Railways among the largest freight carriers worldwide. Infrastructure expansion — over 34,400 km of new tracks laid between 2014 and 2025 (versus 7,599 km in 2009–14), 431 sanctioned projects covering nearly 36,000 km across new lines, gauge conversions and doubling, at an estimated cost of ₹6.75 lakh crore — appears extensive. Electrification coverage is claimed at 99.1% of broad-gauge routes. Dedicated Freight Corridors report 96.4% operational commissioning. Over two lakh wagons and 10,000 locomotives have been inducted since 2014, and new freight-terminal capacities, along with wagon expansion policies, have been rolled out under schemes like Gati Shakti.
Station redevelopment — another flagship undertaking — is being advanced under the Amrit Bharat Station Scheme, which identifies 1,337 stations for upgrade. Despite the challenge of ongoing train operations on live tracks, 155 stations are claimed to have been completed. The scheme includes enhancements ranging from platform covers, accessibility infrastructure, multimodal integration, improved passenger amenities, kiosk spaces for local products, upgraded waiting halls, lifts or escalators, better information systems, and long-term ambitions like city-centre integration around major stations. Funding under Plan Head-53 for fiscal 2025-26 is set at ₹12,118 crore, of which ₹7,253 crore had been spent by October. Fifteen stations are under evaluation for development through public-private partnership (PPP). But the ministry concedes that brownfield constraints — heritage clearances, statutory approvals, utility relocations, safety compliance and continuous train operations — make timeline predictions fluid.
The Railways has also flagged a sharp acceleration in safety-critical bridge and level-crossing elimination work. In the period from 2014 to October 2025, the number of road-over/road-under bridges (ROBs/RUBs) constructed under its safety programme has tripled compared with 2004–2014: 13,653 ROBs/RUBs versus 4,148 in the earlier ten-year span. This surge appears aimed at reducing accidents at level crossings and improving road–rail connectivity — a detail that seldom grabs public attention but may significantly affect both rail safety and community mobility across corridor towns.
Beyond the official claims, operational bottlenecks continue to shape outcomes far more than any policy announcement acknowledges. Locomotive-availability bulletins published by Indian Railways in recent months record recurring shortfalls, flagging crew and loco resource mismatches that leave divisions scrambling to meet scheduled services. Fog-season disruptions are now routine: in November 2025, the East Central Railway (ECR) announced cancellation or curtailment of over two dozen long-distance trains for the December–February period 2025–26 due to dense winter fog, with similar decisions across other northern and eastern zones. Permanent speed restrictions continue on many sections awaiting track renewals; though a large-scale project to upgrade loop lines and renew turnout tracks has been initiated, the backlog and funding delays mean many sections still operate under older, slower rails — increasing transit times and shrinking windows available for maintenance. Safety-critical signalling upgrades under the automatic train protection programme Kavach 4.0 are facing vendor-approval delays; as of mid-2025, only one original equipment manufacturer had received clearance for supply, pushing back deadlines for widescale rollout. Coordination between multiple zones and divisions remains fragmented: internal audits and independent reviews have noted uneven field monitoring, delayed data reporting, and reliance on manual batch updates rather than real-time digital systems — conditions that slow down preventive maintenance, de-risking of lines and hinder effective overhaul planning.
Taken together, today’s announcements display a rail system stretching in multiple directions: a high-visibility green-technology pilot; ongoing but uneven accessibility reforms; fare adjustments framed to manage public optics; a massive but delayed infrastructure build-out; station redevelopment plans racing ahead but compromised by brownfield constraints. The government presents all these as part of a coordinated modernisation drive, but from an investigative perspective, the picture is more complicated — a rail network attempting simultaneously to innovate, expand, subsidise, commercialise and green itself, even while being racked by structural bottlenecks that official statements seldom acknowledge.
The hydrogen train stands as a metaphor for this larger contradiction. It signals ambition, technological confidence, and a desire to showcase leadership. But like many pilot projects in India’s infrastructure sector, its future will depend not on its brochure-ready specifications but on whether the ecosystem around it — fuel supply, maintenance, route suitability, costs and safety — can sustain its promise. Until then, it remains a sleek prototype in search of a practical path, much like several of the Railways’ grand plans: impressive on paper, awaiting proof on the tracks.
– global bihari bureau
