The main railway contractors in India, as of November 2026, are two Ministry of Railways companies, RVNL and IRCON International, and private EPC firms such as Afcons, KEC International, Kalpataru Projects, Larsen & Toubro and Tata Projects, alongside mid-size builders like H.G. Infra, GPT Infraprojects, J. Kumar and Texmaco. The odd part is how the two state firms get their work: about Rs 45,000 crore of RVNL’s Rs 99,262 crore order book came on nomination, and so did 45% of IRCON’s Rs 23,366 crore. For a machine owner, the useful numbers are elsewhere. The payment cycles these firms report run from about 33 days at RVNL to 173 at KEC.

As of November 2026, the two state-owned names on any list of railway contractors in India are also the two that still receive a large share of their work without a tender. RVNL’s annual report for 2025-26 splits its order book into roughly Rs 45,000 crore of nomination work and Rs 45,000 crore won in competitive bidding. IRCON’s investor presentation of 12 August 2026 puts its nomination share at 45%.

Yet both now bid for new work like everyone else. IRCON’s own annual report records that the Ministry of Railways revoked its policy of competition among railway PSUs in October 2021 and introduced open tendering for railway works. The private firms on this list win their Indian Railways jobs through tenders, often against these same two companies. In August 2026 the two PSUs even shared a chairman: IRCON’s presentation lists RVNL’s chairman and managing director holding IRCON’s top post as additional charge.

How this list of railway contractors in India was built

We kept firms that do railway civil work: formation and track, bridges, tunnels, stations, electrification, and civil packages on metro, freight-corridor and high-speed lines. Rolling-stock makers and firms whose railway work is mainly consultancy are left out. Every fact below comes from the company’s own website, annual report, investor presentation or stock-exchange filing, read on 3 and 4 November 2026. We dropped any firm whose railway work we could not confirm from its own current documents, and we checked RVNL’s list of banned and poor-performing contractors, updated to 5 October 2026. None of the eleven firms below appears on it.

The order is alphabetical. Order books are shown with their date and source, but they are not a ranking: they fall on different dates and most include roads, power or buildings as well as rail. The list is not complete, and many regional contractors also build railway works.

Railway construction companies in India: who builds what

Company Railway work Named project or record Latest own figure
Afcons Infrastructure Rail bridges, tunnels, metro, turnkey railway (since 2016) Chenab Bridge, the world’s highest single-arch railway bridge; Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed rail C2 package with India’s first 7 km undersea tunnel Order book Rs 31,543 crore, Dec 2025 (investor presentation, Feb 2026)
GPT Infraprojects Railway steel bridges, track, sidings, concrete sleepers Sleeper plants in India, South Africa, Namibia and Ghana No railway figure checked
H.G. Infra Engineering New lines, track, bridges, station redevelopment Gaya-Son Nagar 3rd and 4th line: earthwork, blanketing, bridges, electrification (East Central Railway, Bihar) Railway book about Rs 2,883 crore of Rs 13,685 crore, Sept 2026 (presentation, 3 Nov 2026)
IRCON International Navratna PSU under the Ministry of Railways: track, electrification, bridges, tunnels 5,858 track km of track work and 10,762 route km of electrification executed Order book Rs 23,366 crore, 30 June 2026, 77% railways (presentation, 12 Aug 2026)
J. Kumar Infraprojects Metro civil: viaducts, stations, tunnels, depots Mumbai Metro lines 2B, 4A, 6, 7 and 9; Delhi Metro packages; Ahmedabad and Surat metros No railway figure checked
Kalpataru Projects International Track laying, overhead electrification, stations, signalling Over 9,000 track km electrified; Antri-Jhansi 3rd line Railways order book Rs 2,382 crore, 31 Mar 2026 (Integrated Annual Report 2025-26)
KEC International Electrification, signalling including Kavach, doubling, new lines, RRTS civil Says it has electrified nearly 40% of the network, over 17,000 km; Duhai depot on Delhi-Meerut RRTS Group order book Rs 39,946 crore, 30 Sept 2026 (presentation, 2 Nov 2026)
Larsen & Toubro Civil and track, bridges, tunnels, freight corridors, high-speed rail High-speed rail C4 package, 237.1 km or 46.6% of the corridor, and C6, 87.569 km No railway-only figure on the pages checked
Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) Ministry of Railways’ executing arm since 2003: new lines, doubling, electrification, metros More than 158 projects commissioned Order book Rs 99,262 crore, 31 Mar 2026 (Annual Report 2025-26); Rs 93,492 crore, 30 June 2026
Tata Projects Railway corridors, metros, track, electrification Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors; Pune and Mumbai underground metro; Guna-Gwalior electrification Unlisted; no order book quoted
Texmaco Rail & Engineering (rail EPC) Track, signalling, electrification, traction substations Ballastless track for tunnels and elevated lines; Rs 252.88 crore Indore Metro track contract (Oct 2022) No railway figure checked

Afcons, IRCON, Kalpataru, KEC and L&T also appear in the wider guide to the top EPC companies in India, which covers their road, power and building work.

Who is still taking on new railway work?

The state firms are learning to live on bids. RVNL’s 2025-26 report says competitive work now makes up half its order book, that bid work earns thinner margins, with EBITDA of 4% to 5%, and that the nomination book of about Rs 45,000 crore has a three-year execution window.

Some private firms are going the other way. Kalpataru describes a “disciplined and selective bidding approach” in railways because of increased competition, and its railway order-book chart falls from Rs 3,985 crore in FY2024 to Rs 2,382 crore in FY2026. KEC’s November 2026 presentation says its transportation unit is focused on completing ongoing projects, with revenue of Rs 224 crore in the September quarter. H.G. Infra, mostly a road builder by order book, now holds 21% of its book in railways.

The firm with the famous railway name is not always the one with fresh railway work on your section. Before you chase anyone, find out whose package is live near you. Railway and metro packages are posted daily among the live tenders and work opportunities.

How long do railway contractors take to pay?

Large listed companies report their days of accounts payable in the business responsibility report inside their annual report: what they owe suppliers, times 365, divided by what they bought. It is the nearest published clue to how long your bill will wait.

Company Days of accounts payable Year and source
Afcons Infrastructure 148 FY2024-25, Annual Report 2024-25
H.G. Infra Engineering 118 FY2025-26, Annual Report 2025-26
IRCON International 55.13 FY2025-26, Annual Report 2025-26
Kalpataru Projects International 120 FY2025-26, Integrated Annual Report 2025-26
KEC International 173 FY2025-26, Annual Report 2025-26
Larsen & Toubro (standalone) 128 FY2025-26, Integrated Annual Report 2025-26
Rail Vikas Nigam (RVNL) 32.58 FY2025-26, Annual Report 2025-26

Read it with care. The figure is an average across every purchase, from steel and cement to services and plant, so it says nothing certain about one sub-contractor’s bill. It also hides a catch. A PSU that pays its contractors quickly does not make the contractor under it pay you quickly, and on most PSU packages the main contractor is the one who signs your work order.

How a machine owner gets railway work through these firms

There are two doors. The first is a direct railway tender. You register on IREPS, the Indian Railways e-procurement system, and bid tender by tender; the steps are set out in the guide on how to become a railway contractor.

The second door is the main contractor. RVNL’s September 2026 call to empanel contractors and sub-contractors (EOI RVNL/BD/EoI/2026/02, now open until 17 November 2026) shows how high the PSU bar sits: its lowest category needs Rs 75 crore average turnover, and RVNL refused a request to add a smaller one. Its regular tenders are covered in RVNL vendor registration. For most owners, the work order comes from the firm that won the package. Afcons signs up suppliers through its Smart SCM portal, explained in Afcons vendor registration, while Kalpataru publishes no open form and onboards suppliers against its supplier code, as Kalpataru Projects vendor registration sets out.

The machines these packages run follow the work. Formation earthwork and blanketing, the first items on a line like Gaya-Son Nagar, need crawler excavators such as the Tata Hitachi EX 210LC Prime, with soil compactors behind them. Backhoe loaders like the JCB 3DX cut side drains, cable trenches and station approaches, and cranes lift girders and precast pieces. The wider fleet for track, bridge and station work is covered under machines for railway and metro work.

The question to ask before you sign on

Ask the main contractor one thing before you move a machine to its site. Once my bill is certified, how many days until the money is in my account, and will you write that number into the work order?

The annual report gives you their average. Only the work order binds them. If their answer is longer than your fuel, operator wages and EMI can carry, line up working capital first through equipment finance.

Order books, payment cycles, tender dates and eligibility terms change — confirm current terms with the contractor, RVNL or the railway concerned before you sign a work order or bid.