Railways plans to run private trains on 15 routes originating in Bihar

PATNA: With the Railway Board inviting ‘request for qualification’ (RFQ) bids from private operators, decks have been cleared to run high-speed 151 private passenger trains on 109 different routes across the country. Out of 109 chosen routes, 15 will have the originating destination points (ODP) in Bihar under the East Central Railway (ECR).
According to Railway Board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav, railways has worked out its blueprint to execute it sometimes in 2023, bringing a world-class technology of the fastest mode of communication to cater to the needs of people.
This ambitious plan was announced in the Union Budget of 2020-21 fiscal after approval from the Niti Aayog with an aim to generate additional funds for the cash-strapped railways. Besides, this move is being taken in railways’ parlance as an alternative to aeroplanes. Several private operators from foreign countries are likely to bid while a few Indian business tycoons are keen to compete at the pre-bidding stage, a Board official said.
ECR chief public relations officer (CPRO) Rajesh Kumar said as announced earlier, railways has proposed to run private passenger trains on 15 routes in Bihar. They are Patna-New Delhi (daily), Patna-Howrah (daily), Darbhanga-Anand Vihar (biweekly), Bhagalpur-Anand Vihar (weekly), Gaya-Anand Vihar (triweekly), Darbhanga-Jogeshwari (weekly), Patliputra Jn- Bengaluru (five days a week), Katihar-Tilak Bridge (weekly), Kishanganj-Tilak Bridge (weekly), Barauni-Anand Vihar (biweekly), Chhapra-Anand Vihar (biweekly), Patna-Pune (weekly), Patna-Surat (weekly), Patna-Mumbai (weekly) and Danapur-Indore (weekly).
According to sources, railways has fixed Rs668 per train kilometre as haulage charges, which include terminal cost, traction, transportation, track maintenance, signalling and overheads cost. Railways is likely to make an indicative investment of Rs22,500 crore for a period of 35 years for running about 151 private passenger trains on different routes, sources said.
According to the CPRO, the experiment will give a boost to railways economy as well as relief to people who are keen to travel fast. Under the proposed terms and conditions, railways has fixed Rs25 lakh as compensation to each victim in case of accident and to pay compensation of Rs100 for every hour late running and Rs250 for two hours late arrival of private passenger trains at the destination points, he said, adding private operators will pay a fine of Rs1 lakh in case of luggage lifting from the running coach during journey.
Meanwhile, an expert, on the condition of anonymity, said the haulage charge of Rs668 per kilometre is a meagre amount. It will not benefit railways in the long run, keeping in view the fact that the United Kingdom was forced to take over railways even after 20 years of its privatization, he said.