New Delhi, Aug 5 (IANS) Indian Railways has incurred capital expenditure of over Rs 1.14 lakh crore or about 39 per cent of the budgetary allocation for 2026-27 till July, while expanding the deployment of its indigenous train collision avoidance system Kavach and upgrading tracks to support higher train speeds, the government informed Parliament on Wednesday.

In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union Minister for Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said the government had spent Rs 1,14,973 crore out of the budgetary allocation of Rs 2,93,030 crore for the current financial year.

The minister said expenditure on safety-related activities has increased steadily over the years, rising from Rs 39,200 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 1,20,389 crore in 2026-27.

On Kavach, the indigenous Automatic Train Protection (ATP) system, Vaishnaw said Version 4.0 has been commissioned over 2,633 route kilometres as of July 31, covering key sections of the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Howrah high-density corridors.

The upgraded version incorporates higher location accuracy, improved signal information in larger yards, optical fibre-based station-to-station interfaces and direct integration with electronic interlocking systems, enabling large-scale deployment across the railway network, he said.

Trackside Kavach implementation has been taken up over 21,794 route km covering the Golden Quadrilateral, Golden Diagonal, high-density network and other identified sections, while Kavach has been installed in 6,290 locomotives.

Work is also underway to equip another 7,190 locomotives and 1,200 EMU/MEMU rakes with the system.

The minister said Rs 3,875 crore has been spent on Kavach works till June, while Rs 2,066 crore has been allocated for the project during 2026-27.

Vaishnaw also said Indian Railways has significantly upgraded its network to support higher train speeds. The length of tracks capable of supporting speeds of 130 kmph or above has increased from 5,036 km in 2014 to 24,173 km in 2026.

Overall, about 81 per cent of the railway network is now capable of supporting speeds of 110 kmph or higher, compared with about 40 per cent in 2014, he added.

The minister said the New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Howrah corridors under the Golden Quadrilateral are being upgraded for operations at speeds of up to 160 kmph under Mission Raftaar.

On infrastructure creation, Vaishnaw said Indian Railways commissioned 36,429 km of new railway lines between 2014 and 2026, averaging 8.32 km per day which is nearly double the pace of 4.2 km per day recorded during 2009-14.

As of April 1, a total of 514 railway infrastructure projects -- comprising 169 new lines, 29 gauge conversion projects and 316 doubling projects -- covering about 40,000 km and costing around Rs 8.31 lakh crore are under implementation. Of these, 12,583 km have been commissioned so far at an expenditure of Rs 3.05 lakh crore.

Additionally, the minister said Indian Railways trains around six lakh employees every year through its network of training institutes as part of continuous skill development and capacity-building initiatives, with increasing focus on digital technologies, logistics and modern freight operations.

--IANS

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