New Delhi: Indian Railways on Thursday announced that private train operations are expected to begin by April 2023 and ticket fares in these trains will be competitive with airfares on similar routes. Vinod Kumar Yadav, Railway Board Chairman, said that this step aims to to get a 'quantum jump' in technology and higher speeds.
This statement comes after Railways announced it's plans to allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its network.
Yadav, while addressing a virtual press conference, stated that the private participation in passenger train operations would constitute to only 5 percent of the total operations and the number of trains would be additional to the current operations passenger train services to meet the demand of near future
"Private train operations are likely to begin by April 2023, and all coaches will be procured under Make In India policy. Train sets have to be brought by private operators and maintained by them," he added.
Asserting that the move will bring a quantum jump in technology, Yadav said that it also means those coaches which used to require maintenance after running 4,000 km, will now need maintenance after every 40,000 km, that is either once or twice in a month.
He also mentioned that if any performance indicators are not met by private players in passenger train operations, they will be penalised.
"Fares in private trains will be flexible and prices on other modes of transport like airlines, buses have to be kept in mind for economic viability," he added.
These private trains will operate in 12 clusters, including Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur, Patna, Mumbai, Prayagraj, Howrah, Chennai and Secunderabad.
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The Railway official also informed that a new time table is being prepared which will include all these trains, aiming to reduce travel time in passenger trains as well as to increase the average speed of freight operations.
Yadav said that the private operators will also pay fixed haulage charges for path, stations, access to railway infrastructure and charges for electricity consumed. However, drivers and Guard for these trains will be provided by Indian Railways.
On Wednesday, Railways formally kick-started it's plans to allow private entities to operate passenger trains on its network by inviting requests for qualifications (RFQ) for participation on 109 pairs of routes through 151 modern trains. The project would entail a private investment of about Rs 30,000 crores in the Railway sector.
Yadav said that the financial bids for private trains are expected by February or March and will be finalized by April 2021, while request for quotation bids will be done by September.
Allaying the fears that the move will lead to job cuts in Railways, Yadav stated that private participation in passenger train operations will be only five percent of the existing 2800 Mail/Express trains over Indian Railways and in the near future, the number of jobs in Railways is also going to increase due to the increase in demand.
He also said that the introduction of private players would also help to make trains available according to demand and to decrease passenger waitlist.
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