Buying trains is not a viable proposition as it would not only burden the organisation financially but cost thousands of employees of their jobs in the long run, All India Railwaymen Federation (AIRF) working president N. Kannaiah said on Sunday.
Reacting to the idea of the Railways to buy train sets, EMU and MEMU from private players, he said production units such as the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, and Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareli, had state-of-the-art technology and infrastructure.
“The making of Train18 (Vande Bharat Express), and Tejas Express rakes are examples of how our production units can deliver world class products. The production capacity of ICF increased from 1,437 coaches per year in 2009-10 to 3,200 coaches in 2018-19. But the manpower has been drastically cut.
The cost of Train18 rake in the global market is ₹245 crore whereas ICF engineers rolled out the train at a cost of ₹97 crore,” he said.
Alleging that the Chairman, Railway Board, was going back on his assurance that there would be no more privatisation when a delegation of ARIF leaders met him in New Delhi recently, he said corporatisation was the first step towards privatisation.
A majority of union leaders, officials and staff was opposed to the privatisation policy of the railways.
“They (the railway management) have now decided to hand over two trains in each zone to private parties. I am told that the Delhi-Lucknow-Delhi and Chennai-Madurai-Chennai Tejas Express trains would be given away on lease for ₹60 crore each.
“The next step would be to give away the Vande Bharat Express...how can they give away profit-making trains,” he wondered.
Mr. Kannaiah, who is also the general secretary of Southern Railway Mazdoor Union, said the spirit of ‘Make in India’ initiative was to protect and promote local talent in national growth and not bring in multinational companies to manufacture and deliver their products here.
“The AIRF which has about 10 lakh members in 16 zonal railways and 7 production units will go all out to prevent further privatisation of the Indian Railways. This is a income generating organisation,” he said.
