Successful startup solutions can be targeted for export, expanding market opportunities beyond India.

A new Rail Tech Policy will steer innovation by engaging startups, innovators, industry players and institutions, and will digitize the Railway Claims Tribunal so claim filing becomes available from anywhere around the clock.

The e-RCT system is designed for faster processing, fewer adjournments, real-time case updates, online access to orders and judgments, and reduced travel and printing costs, with better record management and data-led pendency insights.

Actual applications highlighted include AI-enabled CCTV for passenger security, AI-based track monitoring using radar, infrared and ultrasonic tech, drone-based systems to detect rail fractures and monitor overhead equipment, and AI analytics to spot overheating insulators.

Implementation will proceed through feasibility checks, board recommendations, and division-led pilots to test proposals before broader rollout.

Funding for these innovations will come from the budget allocated to the relevant problem areas, with safety-related innovations funded from existing safety budgets.

In addition, the policy allows funding from the specific problem-area budgets, including safety-focused innovations.

Innovation funding has been boosted to more than three times the previous level, with the maximum prototype development and trials grant doubled to accelerate testing and commercialization.

The policy does not create a new pool of funds; it emphasizes faster processing, digitization, and pilot-led division-level implementation before a national rollout.

Funding will come from departmental innovation budgets despite modest overall research allocations, aiming for efficient integration of new ideas.

There is a push to rethink revenue-sharing with content creators and explore legal pathways if voluntary reforms aren’t adopted.

At the same event, the minister urged tech platforms to enhance online safety and trust, addressing content responsibility and protections for children and citizens.