Indian Railway to allow private players to operate passenger trains

Courtesy: The Gulf Indians
Indian Railways on July 1, formally kickstarted its plans to allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its network by inviting request for qualifications (RFQ) for participation on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains, the national transporter said.

The project would entail a private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore, the national transporter said.

This is the first initiative for private investment for running passenger trains on the Indian Railways network. It began last year with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) introducing the Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express.

The Railways has ferried 60 lakh migrant workers home since May 1 through Shramik Special trains but managed to recover only 15 per cent of operational cost.

Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said the average fare per person on Shramik Special trains was Rs 600 and the national transporter had run 4,450 Shramik trains so far. The Railways generated a revenue of around Rs 360 crore.

Also, over 60 per cent of train tickets were cancelled in March due to coronavirus the Railways Board chairman had informed a parliamentary panel.