AFTER a two-year wait, Indian Railways (IR) finally launched its fastest inter-city service on April 5, when railways minister Mr Suresh Prabhu flagged off the Gatimaan Express on its maiden run from Delhi to Agra.

THE cost of constructing a 480km high-speed line linking Delhi with the holy city of Amritsar in the state of Punjab is estimated to be around Rs 1100bn ($US 20.8bn), according to a draft final report on the project by a consortium of Systra and Rites, which was submitted to the Indian Railways board last week.

THE first air-conditioned EMU for the Mumbai suburban network was officially handed over to India's Central Railway (CR) at the Integral Coach Factory in Chennai on March 31.

INDIAN Railways (IR) recorded a 3.7% fall in revenue to Rs 1360bn ($US 19.8bn) between April 2015 and January 2016, compared with a forecast of Rs 1414bn. Despite the shortfall the forecast in the 2016-17 budget is for revenue to rise by 10.1% to Rs 1842bn.

A DILEMMA confronts Indian Railways (IR) as it goes into 2016. While it is heartening that the country's public transporter has initiated moves to take the rail travel experience to the next level through the infusion of private and foreign funds and modern technology, it is equally distressing to find that the basic performance parameters have been showing a downward trend.

FRENCH National Railways (SNCF) has agreed the second phase of a cooperation protocol with Indian Railways (IR) signed in April 2015 for a pilot project to upgrade two stations.

INDIA's northeastern state of Tripura finally joined the national broad-gauge network on January 13, when minister of state for railways Mr Manoj Sinha greeted the arrival of the inaugural broad-gauge train in the state capital Agartala.

INDIAN Railways (IR) has issued a call for domestic tenders for the supply of a fleet of 14,777 freight wagons of six different types.

INDIAN Railways (IR) signed two contracts with a combined value of around Rs 450bn ($US 6.8bn) with Alstom and GE Transportation on November 30 for a total of 1800 freight locomotives, most of which will be assembled at purpose-built plants in the north-eastern state of Bihar as part of the government's Make in India initiative.

INDIA's Northeast Frontier Railway marked a milestone in its gauge conversion programme on November 21, when the country's railway minister Mr Suresh Prabhu flagged off the first broad-gauge passenger train on the 210km Lumbding - Guwahati - Silchar line in Assam state via a live video link from Delhi.