The second edition of the Rail Synergy and Bengal MSME Vendor Connect Summit will be held on August 19, 2026, at ITC Sonar, Kolkata.
The Confederation of Indian Industry, West Bengal, will organise the second edition of the Rail Synergy and Bengal MSME Vendor Connect Summit 2026 on August 19, 2026, at ITC Sonar, Kolkata. Held under the theme “From Modernisation to Scale: Wagon to Track and Sustainable Supply-Chain Depth in Indian Railways,” the summit will bring together policymakers, railway organisations, public sector undertakings, original equipment manufacturers, EPC companies, MSMEs, startups, financiers, technology providers and industry experts. The summit will feature panel discussions on electrification and sustainable industrial growth, KAVACH signalling and safe operations and Dedicated Freight Corridor and Gati Shakti Cargo Terminal capacity, alongside a dedicated Vendor Connect and business-to-business and business-to-government session aimed at facilitating over 200 targeted meetings for participating companies.
A major focus of the summit will be India’s near-total railway electrification, with around 98 per cent of Indian Railways tracks electrified and a reduction in traction fuel consumption of 136 crore litres during 2023-24 compared to 2018-19. Safety-related expenditure by Indian Railways reached approximately Rs1.2 lakh crore in FY2026, with the accelerated rollout of KAVACH 4.0, India’s indigenous automatic train protection system, expected to create new opportunities for technology providers and MSMEs. More than 118 Gati Shakti Cargo Terminals had been commissioned by October 2025, supporting sectors including coal, cement, food grains and industrial logistics. Vivek Lohia, Railway Task Force Chairman of CII West Bengal and Managing Director of Jupiter Wagons, said Indian Railways was entering a new phase where modernisation must translate into scale. Rahul Khaitan, Co-Chair of the Railway Task Force at CII West Bengal and Managing Director of Rahee Group, said the transition from electrification to green and sustainable industrial growth was creating unprecedented opportunities across the rail value chain.
Source: Confederation of Indian Industry, West Bengal
