Railway privatisation on long routes, locals
Indian Railways may hand over passenger trains on as many as 10 long-distance routes, together with suburban train services in cities like Mumbai and Kolkata, and intercity routes to private entities to operate, as the national transporter seeks to increase its revenue.
A letter sent on Monday by the Railway Board to zonal railways’ principal chief operating managers asked them to study the viability of privatizing the routes, finalise a list and present it at a meeting of railway officials on Friday.
“Under the proposal, private operators would be identified through a participative bid process to run private/passenger day/overnight trains connecting important cities. It is contemplated that the private operators shall induct modern passenger trains and operate them on paths allocated to them on payment of haulage charges,” the letter said.
The proposed routes for longdistance travel are Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi - Lucknow, DelhiJammu/Katra, Delhi- Howrah, Secunderabad-Hyderabad, Secunderabad-Delhi, DelhiChennai, Mumbai- Chennai, Howrah- Chennai and HowrahMumbai
The plan, for the first time, includes the privatisation of suburban rail services in Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai and Secunderabad.
The plan is part of the railway ministry’s 100-day action plan. The railways in June also has decided to hand over two rakes to the Indian Railway Catering, and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) to operate.
Indian Railways in June had also given approval to IRCTC for running the Tejas Express on the Delhi- Lucknow and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes on a pilot basis.
Centre is also mulling a plan to set up a revamped regulatory authority to monitor the fares and safety of the trains. Plans to set up a Railway Development Authority to set tariffs, efficiency and performance standards, suggest measures to enhance non-fare revenues and ensure a level playing field have been pending since it was approved by the Union Cabinet in 2017.
“Railways incur a loss of about ₹30,000 to ₹40,000 crore each year for running passenger services, giving them off to private players will help in reducing their losses definitely and bring down the operating ratio,” said former Railway Board chairman SS Khurana.