The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) hosted a webinar and paper launch for the paper “Express Routes: India’s Railway Connectivity with South Asia” on Wednesday, April 2, 2025.

The session featured a presentation by Riya Sinha, Associate Fellow, CSEP on her Working Paper. This was followed by a discussion with Jaya Varma Sinha, former Chairperson, Railway Board and Prabir De, Professor, Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS). The webinar was moderated by Constantino Xavier, Senior Fellow, CSEP.

About the event

The webinar launched the Working Paper titled Express Routes: India’s Railway Connectivity with South Asia by Riya Sinha. The paper examines India’s efforts to enhance railway connectivity with South Asian nations. It explores the key question: Despite the political, economic, and geostrategic incentives driving New Delhi’s cross-border railway initiatives, why has India struggled to sustain momentum in this sector?

The paper delves into the progress, drivers, and challenges of these initiatives over the past two decades and examines why cross-border rail linkages remain limited despite strategic incentives. It also outlines key enablers for strengthening India’s railway connectivity and fostering regional integration.

The webinar brought together experts to discuss both policy and academic perspectives on this critical issue.

Presenter

Riya Sinha

Riya Sinha is an Associate Fellow in the Foreign Policy and Security vertical at CSEP. She was the 2024 Maitri Fellow at the United States Studies Centre, supported by the Centre for Australia-India Relations. In 2022, she was a Visiting Fellow at the Stimson Centre in Washington DC. At CSEP, Riya coordinates the Sambandh Regional Connectivity Initiative, focussed on conducting data-driven research to map India’s links with its neighbouring countries. Her research interest includes regional economic connectivity in South Asia, particularly in the areas of trade, logistics, infrastructure, and border management. Prior to joining CSEP, Riya was a researcher at the Bureau of Research on Industry and Economic Fundamentals (BRIEF), where she conducted research on regional supply chains, Cross-Line of Control Trade in Jammu and Kashmir and steered time-release studies across various sea ports for ease of doing business (trading across borders) in India.

Discussants

Jaya Varma Sinha 

Jaya Varma Sinha was the first woman to serve as both Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of the Railway Board (2023-24), the apex decision-making body of Indian Railways. An alumna of Allahabad University, she joined the Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) in 1988 and has since held several senior leadership positions. She was the first woman to be appointed as the Principal Chief Operations Manager of South Eastern Railway, where she contributed to operational efficiency. Additionally, she has served as a Railway Advisor at the High Commission of India in Dhaka, Bangladesh, for four years, during which the Maitree Express, a passenger train connecting Kolkata and Dhaka, was inaugurated.

Prabir De

Prabir De is a Professor at the Centre for Maritime Economy and Connectivity (CMEC) at Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi. He has over three decades of full-time research and teaching experience in India and abroad. He works in the field of international economics and has research interests in international trade and development. He has been conducting policy research for the Government of India and several national and international organisations, including several UN agencies and multilateral development organisations. His recent book Act East to Act Indo-Pacific: India’s Expanding Neighbourhood was published by the Knowledge World in 2020.

Moderator

Constantino Xavier

Constantino Xavier is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy and Security Studies at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) in New Delhi. At CSEP he leads the Sambandh Initiative on regional connectivity. He is also a non-resident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution, in Washington DC.

His research expertise is on India’s role as a regional power and the intersecting dimensions of security, connectivity and democracy across South Asia and the Indian Ocean. He also works on India’s relations with the European Union and other democratic powers in the Indo-Pacific, and has published widely in academic books and journals on India’s foreign and security policies with a focus on state capacity, regional institutions, economic and infrastructure diplomacy and soft power.

All content reflects the individual views of the speakers. The Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP) does not hold an institutional view on any subject.

Please contact Gurmeet Kaur at GKaur@csep.org for general queries and Ayesha Manocha at AManocha@csep.org for media queries.