Tejas Trains running in losses, no plans for more private operators: Railway Ministry

In a written reply, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday that the Railway Ministry had no intentions for any further privately run passenger train operations. He highlighted further that the two Tejas trains currently being run had sustained losses since 2019.

New Delhi: The Union Railway Ministry has no plans for any further operations of private player-run passenger trains after the two Tejas Expresses operated by IRCTC incurred losses recently, Minister of Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw said in a written reply in Parliament on Wednesday while responding to a query by MP Anumula Revanath Reddy. Vaishnaw also noted that at present there was no such proposal under consideration.

"In view of COVID 19 pandemic, both these trains were not operational for a long period and even the frequency of the trains was reduced. Due to this, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) earned less revenue in the operation of these two Tejas Train services," he stated. Data furnished by the minister displayed that The Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express earned a sole profit of Rs 2.33 crore in 2019-2020, after which it consistently incurred losses.

Notably, the same year, Ahmedabad-Mumbai Central Tejas Express suffered losses worth Rs 2.91 crores. In 2020-21, both the trains suffered losses worth Rs 16.79 and 16.45 crores respectively. Although the astronomical figures came down after the subsiding of the COVID 19 pandemic, the losses remained at Rs 8.50 crore and Rs 15.97 crore respectively in the next financial year.