Indian Railways has achieved significant safety improvements with only 2 consequential train accidents reported in 2026-27 through June 2026, representing an 88% reduction from the 135 accidents recorded in 2014-15. The consequential accident index improved from 0.11 in 2014-15 to 0.01 in 2025-26, a 91% reduction, measuring accidents as a ratio of total running kilometers.
Safety expenditure has substantially increased from ₹39,200 crore in 2013-14 to ₹1,20,389 crore in 2026-27. The railways implemented 28 specific safety measures including electrical/electronic interlocking systems at 6,671 stations, interlocking of level crossing gates at 10,395 locations, complete track circuiting at 6,671 stations, and vigilance control devices on all locomotives.
Technological improvements between 2014-15 and 2025-26 included use of high-quality 60kg rails on 1.63 lakh km (2.8 times more than 2004-14), longer rail panels (260m) on 87,219 km (nearly 9 times increase), electronic interlocking at 3,691 stations (more than 4 times), and fog pass safety devices increasing from 90 to 31,693 units (352 times). Better maintenance practices resulted in primary rail renewal of 57,583 track km (1.78 times increase), ultrasonic flaw detection testing of 2.25 crore welds (more than 2.8 times), and reductions in weld failures from 3,699 to 272 (93% reduction) and rail fractures from 2,548 to 208 (92% reduction).
Infrastructure enhancements included 36,429 km of new track added (almost 2.5 times), 14,362 flyovers/underpasses constructed (more than 3 times), elimination of all 8,948 unmanned level crossings by January 2019, and manufacture of 49,366 LHB coaches (more than 21 times).
Kavach, the indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection system, has been successfully commissioned on 2,569 route kilometers covering high-density Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. Implementation progress includes 11,253 km of optical fiber cable laid, 1,668 telecom towers installed, 988 station data centers established, track-side equipment on 7,726 route km, and Kavach provision in 6,153 locomotives. Additional work covers 7,327 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU units. Total funds utilized reached ₹3,874 crore by June 2026 with ₹2,066 crore allocated for 2026-27. Over 94,000 personnel including 57,000 loco pilots have been trained on Kavach technology.