Indian Railways (IR) is the national railway system of India operated by the Ministry of Railways. The Central Government runs Indian Railways to increase public welfare and not as an objective of making profit. Indian Railways manages the world's fourth largest railway network in size with a route length of 67,415 km as of March 2019.
According to the government's data, Indian Railways will need Rs 50 lakh crore for the next 12 years. While the government does not have that much money to spend only on this sector.
The running of the railways in India is due to the British and Indian Railways, one of the largest railway services in the world, has been in the hands of the government since its inception in 1853. But now the government is also involving the private sector in it.
How will the railway be privatized?
At present, 13 thousand trains are running in the country and to bring equality between demand and supply, 7 thousand trains will be run. Presently the regulation and management of this trains is done by the Indian Railways but now the management work will go into the hands of private players.
Taking steps in this direction, the Government of India, taking steps towards privatization of Indian Railways, has invited private parties to run 151 passenger trains on 109 routes. The trains running on these routes will have a minimum of 16 coaches and their maximum speed will be 160 km / h.
Indian Railways has said that it will give these projects to private companies for 35 years.
However, the drivers and guards in all these trains will be from the Indian Railways.
Private players will pay the Indian Railways a share in the gross revenue determined through the Transparent Revenue Process, the prescribed transportation charges, energy charges as per actual consumption.
The objective behind this privatization is to rid the Railways of late, increase passenger safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers and provide confirmed tickets to all passengers.
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