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.
The draft document released on Wednesday states that private train operators have to maintain 95 per cent punctuality through the year. Private operators also have to pay penalties for misreporting their revenue or in case of train cancellations for reasons attributable to them.
Infrastructure assets worth over Rs 1.62 lakh crore are expected to be monetised during the current fiscal, Parliament was informed on Monday. The government had last year announced a Rs 6 lakh crore National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) to unlock value in infrastructure assets across sectors, ranging from power to road and railways in four years till 2025. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said about Rs 97,000 crore worth of public assets were monetised in the last fiscal (2021-22).
This is part of the government's move to improve infrastructure.
In the wake of the growing funding constraint for additional infrastructure creation in the railway sector, Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday held discussions with the industry on options to make private participation in the sector attractive. "Addressing the coordination gaps between the rail ministry and the industry is important to increase investments in rail projects. This is very urgent," Banerjee said.
The public sector behemoth is looking at forming joint ventures with states.
Opposition said saying it lacked vision and road map to execute ideas.
In 2021, the Railways boasted of a historic feat -- no passenger deaths in train accidents in two years. However, the derailment of the Bikaner-Guwahati Express in 2022 brought the Railways back to its forgetful past.
There is continued shift by passengers from rail to other modes of travel, thanks to improvement in road connectivity and the shrinking differential in high-end rail and low-end air travel.
The government on Tuesday decided to set up a committee of secretaries to fast-track implementation of infrastructure projects along the border with China.
RLDA is a statutory authority established by the ministry of railways for generating non-fare revenue from railway land.
Notwithstanding robust volume growth and a strong performance from Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), Tata Motors, the country's second-largest automobile (auto) manufacturer by market capitalisation, disappointed the Street with its January-March quarter (Q4) results for 2023-24 (FY24). While consolidated revenues saw a 13 per cent increase, lower-than-expected realisations in the Indian operations weighed down overall performance.
New Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Sunday said his priority will be to improve the financial health of the national transporter and make it a preferred mode of journey in the country.
We have only rationalised the freight rates, says the minister.
'If the NDA comes to power with 320-330 plus seats, then we could see some correction. We could possibly see a level of 19,500 to 20,000.' 'If the NDA comes to power with a majority of 400-plus, we could see the markets going to about 23,500-24,000 levels.' 'And from there we could see some correction because markets are expensive at this point of time and a correction is overdue.'
What kind of facilities would you like to have at the stations?
Going a step ahead, the state government has suggested laying of very fast tracks to facilitate a speed of up to 350 kmph in the public-private partnership.
The home minister will also review the preparation for the annual Amarnath pilgrimage set to start on June 29.
The private sector's new project announcements in the quarter ending March were among the highest on record. The value of new private sector project announcements for the three months ending March 2024 was Rs 9.8 trillion, shows data from tracker Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). This is the second-highest on record in data going back to 2009.
The national transporter is also mulling a hike in passenger fares in the Rail Budget next year to tide over the loss in passenger sector
Around 1.5 crore polling and security personnel, about 55 lakh EVMs and four lakh vehicles will be deployed for the polls, according to the poll authority.
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Many of the PPPs have not evinced interest, Prabhu said.
'The local support from our MP is nil. He never comes to see our farms.'
Three trains jumped off the tracks and another derailment was averted on Thursday in Uttar Pradesh, New Delhi and Maharashtra within a span of nine hours.
Passengers were finding it difficult to reach counters to cancel the reserved tickets within the stipulated time and as a result they are losing money
Indian Railways need a facelift, says Suresh Prabhu.
The United States-based software company Bentley Systems is eyeing major contracts in railways, roads, telecom, electricity, gas and water following government decision to invest over Rs 60,000 crore (Rs 600 million) in the infrastructure sector.
Budget proposals have set four goals to transform Indian Railways.
Talking to reporters at the accident site, he said the issue is of electric point machine, a vital device for railway signalling, and electronic interlocking.
India will need an annual investment of Rs 15 trillion in infrastructure over the next five years, says Chandrajit Banerjee, DG, CII.
The railways should leverage its revenues to raise money from the market to modernise and expand its facilities, planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said in New Delhi on Monday.
Suresh Prabhu must first work to repair damage to railways.
Prime ministers turning up with such frequency to launch trains is an indication of the political mileage resident in public transport. Will our railways step out of the government's shadow? After all, they are the ones manufacturing trains and running them, notes Shyam G Menon.
An analyst says, due to excess capacity, investment in manufacturing will not be forthcoming
'The Congress is solely responsible for the situation that has arisen in Surat'
Things are looking up for engineering firms and Siemens is likely to be one of the leading beneficiaries. Apart from the generic revival in activity, which is expected to continue through the 2023-24 financial year (FY24), the Budget has a strong infrastructure thrust, which works in Siemens' favour. The company reported a standalone Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) of Rs 550 crore (up 66 per cent year-on-year or YoY) in Q1FY23 (Siemens follows the October-September accounting year).
Passengers in 200 railway stations across India will soon be able to recharge their mobiles, pay electricity bills, fill up Aadhaar and Pan card forms and even file taxes with help from Common Service Centre (CSC) kiosks to be set up by RailTel. The scheme has been operationalised in partnership with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited' (CSC-SPV) and the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, RailTel said in a statement. The kiosks will be run by village level entrepreneurs (VLEs).
The railway minister has steered clear of populist traps and refrained from making grandiose announcements in terms of new trains and new rail routes. He should now emulate China, and rope in Japan in boosting the rail network, says Rajeev Sharma.
Railway Budget is the first indicator of possibly better days
