Capital goods major Siemens has signed a Rs 26,000-crore contract to manufacture 1,200 electric freight locomotives for the Indian Railways. The contract is the single biggest order for Siemens and will be used for freight transport.

Indian Railways has included 90 railway stations in the southern railway for modernisation under Amrit Bharat Scheme. About 15 railway stations in each of the six divisions - Chennai, Madurai, Tiruchchirappalli, Salem, Palakkad and Thiruvananthapuram will be modernised with a long-term vision, said official sources from the railways.

The Indian Railways is planning to introduce multiple wagon tipplers to speed up the coal distribution network across the country. Along with additional wagon tipplers, the railway is also looking to have additional wagon unloading lines to de-load the coal wagons at the powerhouses.

The Indian Railways has drawn up a plan of about Rs 18,000 crore to scale up its locomotive maintenance facilities for Vande Bharat trains, eyeing an increase in deployment of these semi-high-speed trains to more parts of the country.

The Indian Railways is set to initiate Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of each of its nearly 300,000 wagons under a plan to prevent pilferages on the national transporter. As part of the Wagon GPS (WGPS) Project, the Centre for Railway Information Systems (CRIS) has invited expressions of interest for participating in knowledge gathering.

Odisha is one of the priority states for Indian Railways which has taken up the upgradation and modernisation of its 36 railway stations in one go, Union Minister for Railways, Communication and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw said. Railway allocation for the state has been enhanced by almost 10 times - from around Rs 800 crore in 2014 to Rs 10,000 crore now.

The Indian Railways will install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at all major railway stations in the country in the next three years under a new policy of promoting e-mobility. Railway stations in mega cities with a population of more than four million each will be taken up in the first phase.

Global players including Alstom, Siemens, Hitachi, Stadler Rail, Wabtec and Arco have evinced interest in developing a new locomotive facility for the Indian Railways at an estimated investment of Rs 20,000 crore in Dahod, Gujarat.

Indian Railways will invest more than Rs 50 crore annually to fund startups, informed Union Ministry. Unlike other such collaborations, the intellectual property rights (IPR) for innovations will remain with the innovator.