Indian Railways’ Mega Privatisation Push: 150 Private Trains, 100 Routes, Rs 22,500 Crore Investment!

Indian Railways, extremely satisfied with the outcome of its first-ever privatised railway, is now announcing another huge plan – leasing out of at least 100 routes to private operators to private players. 

Indian Railways’s first-ever train run by private players, which was the Tejas Express that ran between Lucknow and Delhi, has been an absolute success, which was evident from the 2000 bookings that were made only in two days since it was made public. 

What are the Government’s plans regarding more privatisation of the leases? Find out all the details right here!

Indian Railways To Lease 100 Routes To Private Players For 150 Passenger Trains

After the success of the Lucknow-Delhi Tejas Express, Indian Railways is now looking to lease out a minimum of 100 routes to private players henceforth. There will run at least 150 passengers trains on these 100 routes. 

The Government of India, led by PM Modi, will be inviting investments of Rs. 22500 crore in rolling stock. This project will be proposed during this month’s meet of the Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC), which will take place in the next week. 

Privatisation Of Indian Railways: How Will It Work Out?

These train routes will be handed out to private players for about 35 years and the minimum criteria for this are that the interested parties need to have a net worth of at least Rs. 450 crores and the business and investments in the infrastructure of the Indian Railways should be around Rs, 2700 in the last five years. 

As of now, 150 trains represents about 5% of the total passenger operation capacity of the Indian Railways. 

As per reports, Indian Railways will be expecting bidders that will include tour operators, travel firms, rolling stock companies, and organizations that are working in the rail sector and airline operators as well. 

The interested private entities will be allowed to bid for a minimum of 12 trains and maximum 30 trains so that competition is ensured.

Reports have also stated that each private train will have a minimum of 16 standard coaches of premium quality.

It is clear that Indian Railways is going for a mega privatisation push, and in the coming days, we can witness more and more private trains, operated and handled by private players.

It would be interesting to observe how Indian Railways employee react to this news. We will keep you updated, as more details come in.