Parliament Question: Rail Tech Policy

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2784 TO BE ANSWERED ON 05.08.2026 RAIL TECH POLICY 2784. SHRI NARESH GANPAT MHASKE: SMT. BHARTI PARDHI: SHRI SHRIRANG APPA CHANDU BARNE: SHRI RAVINDRA DATTARAM WAIKAR: DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE: SHRI VISHALDADA PRAKASHBAPU PATIL: Will the Minister of RAILWAYS be pleased to state: (a) the key features of the proposed Rail Tech Policy that aims to give a major thrust to indigenisation of next-generation railway technology and equipment; (b) whether the policy envisages partial funding support, technical assistance, access to testing facilities and other incentives for domestic firms to innovate and develop rail tech solutions and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; (c) the details of measures proposed to cut dependence on foreign suppliers including China and promote Make-in-India production for rolling stock, signalling systems and other critical railway technologies; (d) the details of the expected timeline for formal notification of the Rail Tech Policy and its anticipated impact on competitiveness of Indian manufacturers in the global railway equipment market; and (e) whether any assessment has been conducted regarding the expected increase in domestic investment, technology transfers, employment generation and export potential for Indian railway tech products as a result of this policy and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER MINISTER OF RAILWAYS, INFORMATION & BROADCASTING AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ASHWINI VAISHNAW) (a) to (e) The Rail Tech Policy has been adopted on 26.02.2026 by Indian Railways and a portal (https://railtech.indianrailways.gov.in) has been § Page 1 of 3launched to facilitate participation of innovators and startups with the following key features: (i) Single-stage detailed submission of proposals by the Innovator. (ii) Provision for submission of proposals for self-initiated challenges by the Innovator on the Rail Tech Portal. (iii) Provision for funding on 50:50 cost-sharing basis between Indian Railways and the Innovator, with the maximum grant up to ₹ 3 Cr for prototype development and trials. (iv) Grant offered for extended trials or scale-up shall be upto five times the initial grant subject to a maximum of ₹ 10 crore. (v) Special provision for institutions of national repute such as IITs, NITs, Central and State Universities, under which the requirement of 50:50 cost-sharing has been waived-off. The above proposed Policy will facilitate early adoption of new technologies in Indian Railways. In addition to financial support, the Policy provides the following technical assistance and requisite handholding for development and demonstration of innovative technologies. (i) Provision for technical support to the Innovator includes datasets, telemetry logs, simulator access and GPU compute, wherever required. (ii) For execution of Proof of Concept (PoC) and field trials, the Rail Tech Policy has the provision for nomination of an appropriate Railway Division/Production Unit/Workshop/CRIS/IRCTC/RDSO or other field unit, preferably near the innovator's location, for conducting Proof of Concept (PoC) and field trials. The Policy is intended to provide a structured framework for greater participation of innovators, startups, industry and research institutions in development of technologies for Indian Railways. As implementation of the Policy progresses and more projects are undertaken, it is expected to facilitate development of innovative and scalable technological solutions and strengthen the railway innovation ecosystem. Indian Railways is continuously exploring the possibilities to develop the indigenous sources for the imported items along with industrial partners. Some of the measures taken are as under: (i) Vendor meets are conducted in association with Industry bodies to apprise them of Railways requirements and know about the possible domestic sources for imported items. Page 2 of 3(ii) For the items being imported, Developmental Orders are placed on domestic vendors. The vendors are handheld by Railway units in this effort. (iii) Procurements under Ministry of Railways are done in accordance with the Make-in-India policy. As per Make-in-India Policy, Items for which sufficient competition and capacity is available in the country, Ministry of Railways has reserved such items for procurement only from Class-l local suppliers. (iv) In order to reduce dependency on imports of wheels, an offtake agreement has been signed between Ministry of Railways and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited. The plant was commissioned in September 2021. (v) Major track components such as rails, PSC sleepers, rail fastenings (ERCs, liners, rail pads etc.), and turnout components including Thick Web Switches, WCMS crossings and SEJs are manufactured indigenously by Indian industries. (vi) In line with the Make-in-India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiatives, Indian Railways is promoting indigenous manufacturing of high-speed rail systems and components to reduce import dependence. (vii)The initiatives taken by Indian Railways for ensuring safe, reliable, comfortable & quality rail travel include development & manufacturing of new age rolling stock such as Vande Bharat, Amrit Bharat and Namo Bharat trains etc. These modern rolling stock variants are planned for manufacturing as a part of Make in India initiative in the different Production Units of Indian Railways. (viii)Locomotives on Indian Railway are being manufactured indigenously. (ix) Kavach is an indigenously developed Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system. Kavach is a highly technology intensive system, which requires safety certification of highest order (SIL-4). Within a short period, IR has developed, tested and started deploying Automatic Train Protection System. After extensive and elaborate trials, Kavach Version 4.0 has been successfully commissioned on 2,633 Route Kilometres as on 31.07.26, covering the high density Delhi- Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah routes. ***** Page 3 of 3