South Central Railways (SCR,) on the 28th of October, said private firms are willing to run trains from south zones in India.
According to the SCR, from Secunderabad 10 firms showed interest to run private trains, which are set to bring a major change in train operations.
The trains running from Secunderabad to different parts of the City would be a big boost to Indian Railways. In all, 120 applications were received from 15 applicant firms, including Public Sector Units, for the 12 clusters, for private operations across the country.
The 15 firms include Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, BHEL, L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited and GMR Highways Limited.
Routes to where private trains would operate:
The Railways has finalised 11 routes from the zone on which private trains will be operated. These include Lingampally–Tirupati daily, Cherlapalli– Chennai daily, Lingampalli–Guntur daily, Secunderabad–Guwahati biweekly, Cherlapalli–Varanasi weekly and CherlapallPanvel weekly.
The Railways has also plans for operating Tejus, a semi-high speed train on the Lingampalli route. It features modern onboard facilities on the lines of Rajdhani Express, Gatimaan Express, Shatabdi Express and Duronto Express.
An official of the SCR, who wished to be anonymous said,“The private firms will be selected through a transparent two-stage competitive bidding process.”
In addition, these private trains would have Wi-Fi, modern coaches and seating, clean washrooms and good food.
As part of operations, engines will be hired from the Railways while private firms will have the freedom of keeping their own coaches.
The official also said, “Railways will get haulage charges on a per-km basis from private players for using our infrastructure in operating trains, tracks, signaling and related manpower. Coaches can be hired from Railways or manufactured/procured abroad.”
Stoppages at stations and number of stops will be the firm’s choice.
In addition, the speed of private trains would be higher than regular ones.
These private trains would not only boost economy of SCR, but would also raise standards of Indian Railways, benefiting in additional trains for people in India.
Stay tuned for further updates.
