Govt desperate to sell great chunk of Railways: Congress opposes 109 trains' privatisation

The Railways on Wednesday 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. Criticising the decision, Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the government is in a "desperate mood" to sell a great chunk of one of India's largest national assets.

'Ill-timed illogical decisions'

Taking to Twitter, he said that privatisation can not be construed as a panacea of railways malady, it is the inefficiency of the Railways itself.

The Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha said privatisation means more fare for a train journey and when the country is undergoing severe financial crisis then privatisation of 109 trains is nothing but adding "salt to the injury of common people" as it is the only credible and affordable mode of mass transport for poor people of India

"It is easy to privatize the 109 pairs of trains but for whose interest?" he asked. Adhir Ranjan said that national asset rails should not be privatized in such an "audacious manner to garner revenue" and the govt should reconsider its "ill-timed illogical decisions."

The first initiative for private investment

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

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Currently, the IRCTC operates three trains -- the Kashi Mahakal Express on the Varanasi-Indore route, the Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas and the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Tejas.

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"The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world-class travel experience to passengers," the Railways said. The 109 origin-destination routes have been formed into 12 clusters across the Indian Railway network. Each train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches, it said.

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The Railways also said that majority of these modern trains are to be manufactured in India as 'Make in India' and the private entity shall be responsible for financing, procuring, operating and maintaining the trains.

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(With PTI inputs)