Indian Railways has introduced drone-powered coach cleaning at Kamakhya Railway Station in Assam—marking a pioneering use of automation for railway maintenance. The initiative, launched in April 2025, leverages high-pressure water jet drones to clean hard-to-reach areas on train coaches and station premises, significantly improving hygiene, efficiency, and worker safety. Traditionally, manual cleaning of railway coaches posed multiple challenges.
Workers often struggled to access elevated or confined surfaces such as coach rooftops, external vents, and platform sheds. These limitations not only affected cleaning outcomes but also exposed workers to injury risks. By deploying drones equipped with water jets and disinfectant sprayers, Indian Railways aims to overcome these constraints and usher in a safer, tech-driven alternative to manual cleaning methods.
The initiative, currently in its pilot phase at Kamakhya, is being closely monitored for scalability. Early indicators point to significant time savings and improved cleanliness benchmarks. If the project continues to succeed, railway zones across the country may adopt drone cleaning technology, revolutionising how the Indian Railways manages coach hygiene and station upkeep.
This isn’t Indian Railways’ first brush with drone technology. Since 2018, drones have been used across railway zones for monitoring infrastructure, conducting safety audits, and assisting in real-time surveillance of construction and maintenance projects. The Kamakhya deployment, however, represents the first functional integration of drones into daily sanitation operations.
Industry experts view this development as a strategic leap. With Indian Railways handling one of the world’s largest passenger networks, maintaining hygiene across thousands of coaches and stations is a daunting task. Automation in cleaning not only helps standardise maintenance practices but also frees up human resources for other essential functions. Furthermore, this innovation supports the government’s broader Swachh Bharat mission.
The potential for this technology extends beyond cleaning: thermal imaging, air quality monitoring, and structural integrity checks are all viable use cases currently being explored. As the Kamakhya drone cleaning initiative gathers momentum, the country watches closely to see whether this Assam-based pilot will soon take flight across India’s vast rail network.
