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Cabinet nod for Census 2027

Rail safety hits record high as accidents drop to 11 this year

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Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the Rajya Sabha that India has touched its “highest ever benchmark of rail safety”, with consequential train accidents falling from an annual average of 171 between 2004 and 2014 to just 11 so far in 2025-26. In a detailed reply, Vaishnaw said the sharp decline was backed by a multi-fold rise in safety spending, massive technological upgrades, faster investigations into sabotage attempts and closer coordination with state police and central agencies. The minister said the safety budget has nearly tripled over the past decade, from Rs 39,463 crore in 2013–14 to Rs 1,16,470 crore in the current fiscal, enabling Indian Railways to overhaul ageing assets, ramp up surveillance and strengthen frontline infrastructure. He highlighted a dramatic leap in fog protection systems, noting that Fog Safety Devices have surged “288 times”, from just 90 in 2014 to 25,939 in 2025. Centralised electronic interlocking and complete track-circuiting, he added, have been commissioned at 21 stations each in the last four months alone.

Vaishnaw told the House that passenger safety remains the top priority, and that every unusual incident is investigated thoroughly. While technical reasons are examined by the Railways, cases with suspicion of criminal activity are handed to state police, in line with constitutional provisions. Where required, the CBI and NIA join the probe. All sabotage or track-tampering cases reported in 2023 and 2024 have been registered by state police and Government Railway Police, leading to arrests and prosecution, he said.

According to the figures placed before Parliament, consequential train accidents have reduced from 135 in 2014-15 to 31 in 2024-25, and further down to 11 so far this year till November. The Railways attributes this to a decade of aggressive modernisation, including electronic interlocking at 6,656 stations, interlocked gates at 10,098 level crossings, and complete track-circuiting at 6,661 stations.

India starts process to make 2nd airfield at strategic Great Nicobar Island 150 kms from Indonesia

India has formally initiated the process to make a second airfield at the strategically located Great Nicobar island, the country’s southern-most territory overlooking Straits of Malacca, the vital shipping route to China and the far-east. The new airfield will be at Chingen, adjoining the Galathea Bay on the island which is part of the archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal. It is located 150 kms north-west from Banda Aceh in Sumatra, Indonesia and will be in addition to existing operational Naval air base named INS Baaz at Campbell Bay also on the Great Nicobar island.

The INS Baaz overlooks the ‘Six Degree Shipping Channel’ between Great Nicobar and Sumatra. The Galathea Bay is a few kms south of INS Baaz, hence is closer to the shipping channel that leads to the Malacca. The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), estimate over 96,000 vessel crossings annually through the Malacca, that translates to almost 260 ships daily.

Estimated to cost Rs 8573 crore, the green-field airport project at Galathea Bay is being handled by Airports Authority of India (AAI) which has invited bids from Indian companies to work as project management consultants (PMCs) and has named it as “project management consultancy services for development of greenfield airport at Great Nicobar Island”.

The airport is part of the wider project called the International Container Transhipment Port at Galathea Bay which is being positioned as logistics hub to rival Singapore. The project had environmental issues however, in August Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said that “exemplary mitigation measures” have been incorporated to minimise the environmental impact of the project, “keeping the strategic, national and defence interests in mind”.