As per the reports, Indian Railways is allowing the entry of private players in their latest megaproject to operate passenger trains, which will have several new features for the first time in railways history.
Railways New Megaproject
This time, Indian Railways has come up with a set of conditions for the private players, who want to enter as operators of these passenger trains.
Meanwhile, the Indian Railways has initiated the process of shortlisting private companies to run 151 modern passenger trains on 109 routes.
According to the experts, the success of the part-privatization depends on several factors like comfort, favorable time slots and value-added features, besides affordable fares.
Basically, Innovation in service delivery and customer loyalty is of utmost importance.
Which Services These New Private Trains Will Provide?
As per the reports, the passengers may have to pay for preferred seats as we already see in airlines.
Not only that, but the travelers will also have to pay for any add-on on-board services like wi-fi, onboard entertainment and a few others.
However, the decision to charge for these services will be totally dependent on private players.
In turn, the bidder has to share gross revenue with the Indian Railways, as per the conditions.
With that said, railways have also given private players the freedom to fix the fares for the trains they would be operating.
Apart from that, they will also be having the freedom to explore areas of generating ancillary of new avenues to generate revenues.
Trains will have to be designed to operate at a maximum speed of 160 kmph
What Are The Factors Mandated By Railways For Private Trains?
The mandate has many conditions like Each train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches and the crew which is required for the operation of the trains shall be provided by Railways but will have to be trained by private parties.
In case of Safety certification, it shall be done by Railways based on its own safety parameters.
In terms of maximum speed, the trains will have to be designed to operate at a maximum speed of 160 kmph.
For ticket booking, the private entity will have to use the existing Indian Railway passenger reservation system for booking of tickets.
Apart from the conditions laid down by the Railways for private players, the latter will have to pay a fixed and predetermined haulage charge.
Basically, these are the charges for energy consumed besides paying penalties for poor performance.
Although, the private players will have a choice to procure trains and locomotives from a source of their choice complying with Railway’s standards.
Although, the concession agreement will have provisions relating to mandatory sourcing via domestic production in India over a period of time.
So far, Indian Railways has set a target to run the first private player operated train which is April 2023.
The first pre-bid meeting for the project has been set on 21st July by the Ministry.
So far, the big companies like Adani Group, Esselgroup, RK Associates, Alstom, Bombardier, and several other big names have shown their keen interest in this mega project.