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The Railway Board chairman said private participation in passenger
train operations would only be 5 pc of the existing 2,800 Mail/ Express
trains
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New Delhi(Agencies): Private train operations in the country will begin
by April 2023, and the ticket fares in these trains will be competitive with
airfares on similar routes, the Railways said Thursday.
Addressing a press
conference online, Railway Board chairman VK Yadav said private players in
passenger train operations would mean a quantum jump in technology and coaches
that run at higher speeds.
The improvement in
technology would also mean that the coaches that now required maintenance after
running 4,000 km, would need maintenance after every 40,000 km, that was either
once or twice a month, the Railway Board chairman said.
His statement came a day
after the Railways 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.
Allaying fears that the
Railways network was being handed over to private parties, Yadav told the
Thursday press conference that private participation in passenger train
operations would only be five per cent of the existing 2,800 Mail/ Express
trains over the IR.
“Train sets have to be brought by private
operators and maintained by them. Private train operations are likely to begin
by April 2023, all coaches will be procured under the Make in India policy.
Fares in private trains will be competitive and prices on other modes of
transport like airlines, buses will have to be kept in mind,” he said.
He also said that the
introduction of private players would also mean that trains would be available
on-demand and that passenger waitlist would decrease.
Yadav said the private
operators would also pay fixed haulage charges for the path, stations, access
to railway infrastructure and charges for electricity consumed.
It will also share
revenue with Indian Railways through competitive bidding.
The private entity has
to ensure 95 per cent punctuality and record not more than one failure per lakh
kilometre of travel.
“If any performance indicators are not met by
private players in passenger train operations they will be penalised,” said
Yadav.
He also said there would
be a power meter in every locomotive and the private operators would pay for
the actual amount of energy consumed. This, Yadav said, would encourage them to
keep their energy consumption low.
“Through this, the
common man will get better trains, better technology and at a low cost. The
Indian Railways will continue to run 95 per cent of the trains,” he said. PTI
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