Indian Railways has achieved a significant improvement in operational safety, decreasing consequential train accidents by 88% over the past 12 years, according to data shared by the Railway Ministry. Want to know more about it? Scroll down.
Indian Railways Reports Decrease In Train Accidents By 88%
As per a report by the Business Standard, the accomplishment comes alongside the continuous rollout of Kavach, India’s indigenous automatic train security system, as the national transporter is ramping up investments in safety infrastructure and technology.
According to the ministry, the total number of resulting train accidents has dropped from 118 in 2013-14 to just 14 in 2025-26. So far in the current financial year, only two such accidents have been recorded. Consequential accidents include incidents such as collisions, derailments, fires and level-crossing accidents that disrupt train operations and result in casualties or damage to railway property.
The Consequential Accident Index, which measures the number of accidents per million train kilometres, has also enhanced significantly, falling from 0.11 in 2014-15 to 0.01 in 2025-26—a nearly 91% reduction.
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Indian Railways Credits The Kavach System For Improvement
The Railways attributes this improvement to ongoing investments in modernising safety infrastructure. Spending on safety-related projects has gone up from around ₹39,200 crore in 2013-14 to ₹1.2 lakh crore for 2026-27. Major initiatives include expanding the Kavach system, modernising signalling infrastructure, upgrading railway tracks, replacing older coaches with safer LHB coaches, removing unmanned level crossings on the broad-gauge network, and boosting the use of technology for inspections and maintenance.
Additional safety precautions include the completion of interlocking at 10,395 level-crossing gates, guaranteeing better coordination between train signals and gates, and track circuiting at 6,671 stations, enabling railway authorities to electronically verify track occupancy before permitting train movement.
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Indian Railways has also sped up the rollout of Kavach Version 4.0, which has now been implemented across 2,569 route kilometres, including sections of the high-density Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah corridors. The standard braking system is designed to avoid collisions by automatically applying brakes if a loco pilot overshoots speed limits or fails to respond to warnings.
The Railways states that it will continue expanding Kavach coverage while investing in track maintenance, signalling upgrades and advanced surveillance systems to further improve passenger safety and operational reliability.
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Who is the current CEO of Railways?
The current Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chairman of the Indian Railways Ministry of Railways Railway Board is Satish Kumar.
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Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw is an Indian politician who is currently serves as India's Minister of Railways.
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Indian Railways is 100% owned by the Ministry of Railways, Government of India. It is a state-owned public sector enterprise run as a department of the central government.
