Privatisation of Indian Railways

Indian Railways has launched the process of opening up train operations to private entities on 109 destination pairs of routes using 151 modern trains. The Tejas train operated by IRCTC,in which government is majority stakeholder, is the first train allowed to be run by a ‘non-Railway operators. Bibek Debroy committee constituted in 2015 has recommended liberalisation and not privatisation of railways as the way forward.

• The present move takes another step towards competing passenger train operations, bringing new-generation trains and attracting investments of an estimated ₹30,000 crore.
• Participation of the private sector ensures a better quality of service and new train travel experience similar to aircraft and air-conditioned buses.
• From a passenger perspective, there is a need for more train services, particularly between big cities.
• Train services operated by Indian Railways cover several classes of passengers, meeting the social service obligation to connect remote locations, and adopting the philosophy of cross-subsidy for passengers in low-cost trains through higher freight tariffs.
• However private operators are not expected to shoulder the burden of universal service norm.

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