Centre has no plans to privatise Railways: Goyal

As per the government’s estimate, the Indian Railways require about ₹50 lakh crore in the next 12 years.

A view of the Secunderabad Railway Station on February 26, 2015, the day on which the Central Railway Budget 2015 was presented. The Railway Budget presented by Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu (not in picture) left passenger fares untouched and a slew of measures aimed at making train travel easier, more comfortable and safer was launched. The passenger-friendly proposals include SMS alerts for train timings, provision for Wi-Fi facility in 400 stations, user-friendly ladders for upper berths, 17,000 bio-toilets, and installation of cameras for the safety of women travellers, Nirbhaya funds to be utilised for security of women, booking of tickets four months in advance (from two months earlier), those travelling unreserved can buy a ticket within five minutes, modern facilities for disabled citizens, senior citizens, patients through IRCTC. Also included in the list are elderly-friendly measures like increased quota for lower berths for elderly, TTEs to be instructed to help the elderly, middle bay of coaches to be reserved for the elderly and lifts and escalators at major stations. The key themes of the Budget were in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's initiatives - Swachch Bharat Mission, Make in India and Digital India. Photo: Nagara Gopal

The government does not plan to privatise the Railways, but will outsource the commercial and on-board services of a few trains to improve service delivery, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed Parliament.

Answering a question whether the government had planned to privatise railway operations in phases, including platform maintenance, he said, “No, sir. There is no proposal to privatise the operations.” But there was a proposal to outsource the commercial and on-board services of a few trains and to permit private players to induct modern rakes to run trains on select routes so as to improve services, he said.

“The responsibility of train operations and safety certification rests with the Railways,” Mr. Goyal said, adding, that outsourcing of certain services — such as station cleaning, pay and use toilets, retiring rooms, parking and platforms maintenance — was being done based on needs to improve cleanliness.

The Ministry constituted an empowered group of secretaries in October to work out a road map for the development of 50 stations and handing over the operation of 150 trains to private operators. 

The move followed NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant’s letter to Railway Board Chairman V.K. Yadav recommended that a committee be set up to “drive the process in a time-bound manner”.