No plans to privatise Railways, says Piyush Goyal

NEW DELHI: The government has no plans to privatise Indian Railways, Union minister Piyush Goyal said on Monday while addressing a press conference on the achievements of his ministry in the last four years.

“Let me make it very clear that there are no plans to privatise railways, either now or ever,” Goyal said asserting that in the next few years, Railways will work towards doubling its income.

Concerns about privatisation were raised as the railways is looking for foreign investment in areas of modernisation and technical upgrades.

Goyal also said the capital expenditure in the railways in the last four years is more than double of the average during 2009-2014. Expenditure in rail infrastructure stands at ₹5.29 lakh crore since 2014.

“We have been working towards development with the right intention, which has yielded significant results for us. Our focus has been on improving safety, avoiding rail accidents, installation of CCTV on all coaches and clearing our backlog,” he said.

Goyal said that focus on maintenance of tracks and safety works has impacted punctuality in the short-term but planned maintenance blocks and better time-tabling would ensure that delays are reduced.

Two new apps were launched on Monday.

Menu on Rails will allow passengers to order food, and Rail Madad will allow travellers to lodge grievances.