(a) whether the Government has announced privatisation of train services across the rail networks in the country;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether all the Production Units under the Ministry of Railways are being corporatised or formed into a single entity; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF RAILWAYS AND COMMERCE & INDUSTRY
(SHRI PIYUSH GOYAL)
(a) and (b) Ministry of Railways (MoR) has invited applications for investment and induction of modern rakes over select routes through Public Private Partnership (PPP) to provide world class services to the passengers. As part of this initiative, MOR has issued 12 Requests for Qualification (RFQs) on 1st July, 2020 for operation of passenger trains over approximately 109 origin-destination pairs (divided into 12 clusters) through PPP on Design, Build, Finance and Operate (“DBFO”) basis. The routes are spread across the entire Indian Railway network and the list is available in the public domain namely, http://www.indianrailways.gov.in/IndicativeRoutesfor12clusters.pdf. The responsibility of train operations and safety certification rests with Indian Railways.
(c) and (d) Proposal for capitalization of Production Units of Indian Railways is under consideration of Government. Final decision on this issue is yet to be taken.
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