NEW DELHI, July 10:There is no proposal to privatise
Indian Railways, Lok Sabha was informed on Wednesday.
The response of the Railway to a question on
privatisation came against the backdrop of a proposal of the
national transporter to give two trains to private operators.
In a written reply, Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said
“no specific passenger train has been identified to be run
by private payers so far.”
However, sources have said that Railways have identified
New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, but no official announcement
has been made.
Responding to a supplementary, Minister of State for
Railways Suresh Angadi said further studies on the issue are
on and trials will be held in the coming days.
In his written response, Goyal said, “…there is no
proposal to privatise Indian Railways”.
He was asked whether he is aware that a report submitted
to the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018 had
highlighted challenges presented by largescale privatisation
to protection of human rights.
In a separate written reply, Goyal said that as on April
1 this year, there were 189 new lines projects totalling
21,443 kilometres in various stages of planning/ approval/
execution, which will connect areas not covered so far under
railway network.
“Launching of new railway projects to cater to the
increasing passenger footfall and to connect areas not covered
so far under railway network is a need-based ongoing process
subject to commercial justification, operational requirement,
technical feasibility and resource availability,” he said. (PTI)
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