The railways will soon unveil a policy to allow private operators to run trains on branch lines to connect specific destinations such as a tourist attraction or a business hub.
The railways will soon unveil a policy to allow private operators to run trains on branch lines to connect specific destinations such as a tourist attraction or a business hub. The private players can also take up modernisation of worksho-ps which manufacture wagons and coaches, besides training manpower on the lines of private airlines for jobs in various roles in the railways.
The railways is working out details of the framework policy for foreign direct investment (FDI), which is likely to be unveiled in the upcoming Rail Budget, to offer economically viable opportunities to the private players to take part in key functions. “We can have FDI in branch lines, which we can offer to private players on a tenure of say 25 or 30 years. They may run trains on such lines to connect some tourist destinations or business hubs. There are many such lines on which the railways incurs losses. We can offer a concession agreement to private players in a manner that the proposition becomes attractive to them,” said a senior official of the Railway Board.
The railways is looking forward to tapping FDI in unveiling professional inst-itutes on the lines of airlines which can train and certify people for various roles to eventually work in rail. “The FDI framework policy will address the details to ensure that such inst-itutes get the assurance that the manpower trained and certified by them will be absorbed in the railways to change the current policy of recruitment of untrained personnel,” the official said. Additionally, the FDI framework policy will also come up with a concession agreement to allow private players to partner railways to modernise existing workshops, freight terminals and goodsheds.
The railways has a number of workshops, which manufacture coaches, wagons, locomotives, and wheels.
“Among the five areas under FDI, we are also looking forward to unveil a concession agreement for private players to establish research laboratories to meet the demands of the railways. Also, private players can set up systems at level crossing on rail lines to improve safety,” said the official.
