Union Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on Wednesday said the Centre was seeking private capital investment in cash-strapped Railways to meet the resource crunch and it does not amount to privatisation as the Railways unions claim.
The aim is to reduce working expense by about 15 per cent.
On an annual basis, we'll seek out solutions to Indian Railways' most critical problems through 'innovation challenge': Suresh Prabhu
Prabhu said the Ministry was preparing a plan till 2030.
Indian Railways has tied up funds for the next two years for its ambitious modernisation programme.
A senior RITES official said the new station building comes equipped with many modern facilities that passengers usually get at an airport, but the architecture of its facade "embraces tradition" in a nod to the upcoming Ram temple.
Cleanliness of stations will be rated as per certain parameters finalised by the Railways.
'The Railway Board -- and every official in the ministry -- functions according to the whims and fancies of the Railway Minister,' former railways minister Dinesh Trivedi tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar in an exclusive interview. 'It is the system that needs to be changed. It has to go from a one person-oriented ministry to an organisation-oriented ministry. The system should be transparent.'
Under the plan, there will be 151 private trains covering 109 routes which may entail investments worth Rs 30,000 crore.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will take a final call on whether to break the tradition of presenting a separate Rail Budget, by merging it with the General Budget.
Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), the Indian Railways' wholly-owned listed subsidiary, is eyeing partnerships to offset recurring costs incurred in train operations, which is part of its two-year-old diversification from core catering and ticketing businesses. To this end, it is courting public sector undertakings such as Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and others to create a special purpose vehicle for the routes for which IRCTC has bid. The Railway ministry opened bids for public private partnerships in passenger train operations in July 2021 and received bids to operate 29 pairs of trains with around 40 modern rakes that would entail an investment of Rs 7,200 crore.
'Indian Railways will run 200 non-AC trains daily as per the time table from June 1 for which online booking will start soon,' Goyal said in a tweet. He also said that within the next two days Indian Railways will double the number of Shramik Special Trains to 400 per day.
The 61-year old is credited with initiating big-ticket reforms as power minister, including the Electricity Act of 2003, under then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Indian Railways is currently implementing a project that involves laying of a broad gauge line connecting Nangaldam to Talwara in Himachal Pradesh.
In a historic move, the Indian Railways and the Ministry of Health has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build hospitals and OPDs at railway stations and on Railway land.
'Inter-ministerial coordination, information on the proposed PSUs, and due diligence are taking longer than expected to conclude the process.'
With the Union government clearing the way for foreign direct investment (FDI) in the railways, the Railway Board is devising a plan for operations, maintenance and construction projects.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
'I am glad to announce that these cities are now going to become green smart cities.'
'Every Haryana assembly seat has its own unique problems to earn victory for a political party and you as a politician need to know what are those issues and tackle it.'
Private sector entities will now be able to construct, operate and maintain railway tracks in the country under a new policy framed by the ministry to promote investment in railway infrastructure projects.
About a million railway employees participated in the strike ballot of NFIR. In December, 800,000 employees participated in the strike ballot conducted by another leading union, the All India Railwaymen Federation, with 96 per cent voting in favour of a strike.
With this, the second bidding process for the station's re-development has also collapsed, informed sources in the railway ministry said.
A notification issued by the railway board in the evening said new fares would come into effect from May 5.
A senior ministry official informed: "The minister had said in the Budget last year that a comprehensive policy to regulate catering services would be formulated. Accordingly, a policy is being worked on. It will be announced before the Railway Budget next month."
It is possible to be blind to this and pretend to carry on as if nothing has happened but that will not change the reality, asserts Aakar Patel.
The Election Commission (EC) has raised certain questions on the government's proposal to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the construction and maintenance segments of the railways.
Due to onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent unprecedented lockdown, e-catering services were suspended on March 22, 2020.
The police lodged a suo motu case against unknown persons in connection with their involvement in the mishap, a police officer said.
Public-sector enterprise stocks have seen a good run thus far in 2023-24 (FY24), with the S&P BSE PSU Index surging by over 26 per cent during the period, compared to an 11 per cent increase in the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex.
Sule, citing Railway Ministry documents, said the largest number of Shramik Special trains -- 1033 -- were operated from Gujarat, followed by Maharashtra (817) and Punjab (429).
Passengers who are disallowed from travelling on trains because of symptoms associated with the novel coronavirus will also receive full refund for their tickets, the railways has said.
Though the Railways is yet to declare any five-year action plan, it is clear the government is not in a position to hand-hold it for any major expansion or upgrade. The issue, however, is how far the Railways can function within the PPP format. Recent history highlights some of the challenges.
RailYatri offers a host of travel-related services to a 4.5 million user base. Shine Jacob finds out what's next for the app.
A passenger should not have to wait for more than five minutes to buy a ticket from stations.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has ordered an inquiry into the matter.
'These are people whom very few give importance and they were doing a mammoth job for the nation.'
These coaches, officials said, will be "economical" and in between the current AC three-tier and non-AC sleeper class.
