The committee chaired by Sh. Bibek Debroy had inter-alia recommended Concessioning of commercial operation of train service like Rajdhani/Shatabdi to private parties.

Railways have planned to introduce 150 passenger trains through private operators in PPP mode. In this regard, a group of secretaries (GoS) has been constituted in the year 2019, with a term of one year, inter-alia, to advise on the terms and conditions for private passenger train operator to operate trains with world class technology covering the Indian Railways network through PPP mode. The draft Request for Qualification and the draft Concession Agreement documents have been uploaded on the website of NITI Ayog and Indian Railways for seeking feedback from the stake holders. “Tejas” train, run by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), have been introduced on two routes namely Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad.

Earlier in the year 2006, Railway has unveiled a policy for running of container trains by private container operators for transportation of containerized cargo. Based on the policy of Railways, on date, 19 companies including container corporation of India Ltd. (CONCOR) are having license to run the container trains.

These Container trains are run on demand of licensed private container train operators on payment of due haulage charge between various permitted terminals and inland container depot (ICDs) in Indian Railways.

Outsourcing of non-core activities like running schools, hospitals etc is being done on a need basis.

Government has notified the resolution for setting up of Rail Development Authority(RDA). RDA has been envisaged as an advisory/recommendatory body. The role/mandate of RDA inter-alia includes providing expert advice to Government to make informed decision on following issues:-

1. Pricing of services commensurate with costs;
2. Measures for enhancement of non-fare revenue;
3. Protection of consumer interests, by ensuring quality of service and cost optimization;
4. Promoting competition, efficiency and economy;
5. Encouraging market development and participation of stakeholders in the rail sector and for ensuring a fair deal to the stakeholders and customers;
6. Creating positive environment for investment;
7. Promoting efficient allocation of resources in the sector;
8. Benchmarking of service standards against international norms and specify and enforce standards with respect to the quality, continuity and reliability of services provided by them;
9. Providing framework for non-discriminatory open access to the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) infrastructure and others in future;
10. Measures to absorb new technologies for achieving desired efficiency and performance standards; and
11. Measures for human resource development to achieve any of its stated objectives.

This press release is based on information given by the Minister of Railways and Commerce & Industry, Shri Piyush Goyal in a written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

****

SG