Government has no plans to privatise operations of Indian Railways says Piyush Goyal

The Ministry of Railways said on Friday that there is no proposal to privatise Indian railways except outsourcing the commercial and onboard services of some trains and to allow private suppliers to induct modern parts for running trains on certain routes.

"There is no proposal to privatise the operations of Railways. However, there is a proposal to outsource the commercial and onboard services of a few trains and to permit private players to induct modern rakes to run trains on select routes with an objective to provide improved service delivery to passengers," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said in a written reply in the in Rajya Sabha.

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He said that particular services, like station cleaning, pay-and-use toilets, retiring rooms, parking and platforms maintenance are being outsourced as and when needed, to improve cleanliness and other services of trains.

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Indian Railways to be given indigenous designs

The Ministry of Railways said on Fridays that the government is not considering the complete redesign of railway coaches and even procurement of full train rakes from foreign suppliers.

"There is no plan to start the import of complete train sets from foreign suppliers," Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha.

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Piyush Goyal said a Transfer of Technology (ToT) contract for the development of capabilities from production to commissioning, which includes design, development (prototyping), manufacturing and testing of Aluminium Body passenger coaches of eight variants (five of Broad Gauge loco-hauled coaches and three variants of Standard Gauge Metro coaches) has been awarded by Modern Coach Factory (MCF) in Uttar Pradesh's Rae Bareli to a Korean company.

The Railway Minister said that on the basis of these facilities, coaches shall be manufactured at MCF and “not through import”.

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(With ANI inputs)

(Photo: ANI)