New Delhi: The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Railways has selected 21 issues related to operational safety, public facilities, passenger reservation system, freight services, modernisation and others for examination during 2026-27.
The committee, among various other functions, chooses several topics related to functioning, policies, and finances of the Ministry of Railways during a financial year to examine and make reports on them.
These reports are then tabled in Parliament with various recommendations for the ministry to take action and make improvements on them.
Some of the passenger-centric subjects that the committee has selected are status of safety in Indian rail operations, improvement of public facilities at railway stations, working of passenger reservation system, evaluation of onboard services in Indian Railways.
Besides, the committee has also picked up several business and commerce-related activities for analysis. Some of them are optimum utilisation of railway land and planned commercial development of station areas, development of multi-modal logistic parks and their integration with road and port network.
Since coal, iron, cement and clinker have over 70 per cent share in terms of volume and revenue contribution of Railways freight services, the committee will examine the diversification of its freight basket.
Keeping operational safety one of its prime concerns, the committee has decided to examine the upgrading of tracks, signalling system, rolling stock, progress of new rail lines, doubling, status of road-over-bridge/road-under-bridge, station upgrade, new production units and workshops and elimination of level crossings.
Indian Railways has several public sector undertakings workshops which not only perform several crucial functions but assist in meeting operational challenges. Hence, the committee will examine their performance as well as role in growth and expansion of Indian Railways and their corporate social responsibilities related activities.
One of railways' dream projects - the high speed rail network in India - is also part of the committee's subject study.
In the Union Budget of 2026-27, the government announced seven high-speed rail corridors spanning approximately 4,000 km with an estimated total investment of Rs 16 lakh crore.
Besides, energy efficiency in Indian railways, the status and progress of suburban railway networks in India, including new projects and expansion plans as well as PPP initiatives in Indian Railways for infrastructure augmentation will undergo the committee's scrutiny.
It will also examine promotion of railway-based tourism, human resource management as well as heritage conservation.