Engineers in India explore AI’s role in safer railways

IMechE members joined railway colleagues in Kolkata to explore how artificial intelligence (AI) could improve safety and reliability, and the skills engineers will need to make effective use of it.

Thirty railway engineers, including two of our members, attended the seminar at Eastern Railways headquarters, Fairley Place, on 12 October 2026. Former Indian Railways mechanical engineer Shakti Ghosal led the session, bringing practical maintenance experience to a discussion about the railway’s future.

Using data to anticipate failures

The seminar explored how AI could help engineers identify emerging problems and intervene before equipment fails. Applications discussed ranged from automated inspection of tracks and rolling stock to detecting wildlife on railway lines and improving passenger services.

Ghosal illustrated the potential through his experience at the Itarsi Diesel Electric Locomotive Maintenance Workshop. An engine component repeatedly failed in service despite passing scheduled maintenance checks. He suggested that analysing maintenance records alongside operating conditions and failure patterns could help reveal early warning signs, provided suitable, reliable data were available.

The session also distinguished AI applications from systems such as Kavach, Indian Railways’ Automatic Train Protection system, which uses defined safety rules rather than AI.

Developing skills alongside technology

AI’s implications for railway careers prompted discussion. Responding to an engineer’s concern about potential job losses, Ghosal emphasised its capacity to strengthen human capability and the importance of helping professionals develop relevant AI skills.

Continuous learning, shared experience and engineering judgement emerged as essential to making the technology useful in practice. The seminar’s closing message was that better data and analytical tools could support safer, more reliable operations, while human oversight and professional accountability remain essential.

For our members, the discussion connected practical engineering challenges in India with questions facing the wider profession: how to adopt new technology responsibly and prepare people to work confidently with it.

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