Will The Private Trains Derail?
Indian Railways’ plan to privatize 109 train routes aims to modernize travel and attract ₹30,000 crore investment. However, gaps in regulation, flexibility, and contract terms risk derailing private participation.
Early last year, Indian Railways (IR) announced an ambitious plan to privatize 109 OD (Origin-Destination) pair of trains forming roughly 5% of existing Mail/Express trains over 12 clusters. The avowed objectives declared by the Ministry of Railways (MoR) were,
- Induction of modern technology – Quantum Jump
- Reduced maintenance intervention - 40,000 km/30 days
- Reduced transit time
- Enhanced safety
- World class travel experience to passengers
- Reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transport sector
- And, bringing in private investment to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore in rail sector
The bidding process was started in July 2020. The model proposed a concession period of 35 years with the concessionaire (termed PTO or Passenger Train Operator). A PTO would be required to induct their own train, pay fixed haulage charges for path, stations, access to railway infrastructure and charges for electricity consumed and share revenue with IR to be decided by competitive bidding. The conditions would be stringent with the PTO contracted to ensure 95% punctuality and not more than one failure per lakh kilometre of travel and commitment to improved on-board services like cleanliness and catering. The trains brought in by a PTO would require to clear tests and trials to…
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