New Delhi, 26 February (H.S.): Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced two landmark reforms on Thursday to modernize Indian Railways: the Rail Tech Policy featuring a dedicated portal and the fully AI-enabled digital Railway Claims Tribunal (e-RCT) system.

Addressing a press conference at Rail Bhavan, Vaishnaw outlined the Rail Tech Policy's aim to seamlessly connect startups, innovators, industries, and research institutions with Railways in a transparent, end-to-end digital process. Startups and researchers can now link directly with Railways without barriers, he stated, urging nationwide innovators to join the portal for submitting digital solutions to rail challenges. He invoked Prime Minister Modi's vision, emphasizing how science, innovation, and technology lay the foundation for monumental achievements.

Key enhancements include a simplified single-stage proposal submission, doubled maximum grants for prototypes and trials, and tripled scale-up funding, drawing lessons from successful policies in defense (like iDEX), metallurgy, telecom, and biotech.

As part of the 52 Reforms in 52 Weeks for 2026, initial challenges target AI-based elephant intrusion detection, coach fire alerts, drone rail inspections, stress monitoring, fog obstruction detection, solar panels on coaches, sensor load calculators for parcel vans, and AI pension dispute resolution.

In a citizen-centric move, the e-RCT digitizes all 23 RCT benches nationwide, enabling 24/7 e-filing from anywhere via a Case Information System (CIS), Document Management System (DMS), and automated alerts. Litigants gain real-time case tracking and secure digital access to orders, with AI slashing resolution times and boosting transparency for claimants, families, advocates, and citizens.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar