Indian Railway, the fourth largest railway network in the world by size, is all set to go step by step in the hands of private players. Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal held a meeting with the railway bureaucrats to discuss the process further on Dec. 8 & 9. He asked the senior official in the meeting to prepare a plan for introducing around 150 new routes, covered by premier trains such as Duronto, Tejas and Rajdhani Express, to be run by private operators.
Out of total 150 trains at present, around 30 private trains are likely to run from Mumbai on both Central and Western Railways on the lines of the Mumbai-Ahmedabad and Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express trains, which will soon be operated by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation. The trains will run from Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus, Mumbai Central, Kurla and Bandra Terminus. The route will be identified by the private players considering two important aspects of the number of possible passengers and profitability.
“We will start the bidding process for these 150 trains by next month. As it is happening for the first time in the country, the bidding process will take time. This system is in place all over the world. The entire process will be completed in two parts, the first being Request for Qualification, wherein the bidding process private bidders will qualify. In the second step, we will go for Request for Proposal. The entire process will take six months. The details of revenue generation and routes will be decided during the RFP,” said Vinod Kumar Yadav, Chairman, Railway Board.
The private parties will decide the fares and the food that will be served on-board. The companies will also arrange concierge services and pick up luggage from passengers’ homes. The priority will be given on the punctuality of the trains, the most common problem Indian trains facing right now. These trains will get clearance on a priority basis to ensure no delay in commuting. These new trains, however, will not be replacing existing ones.