Status of Railway Budget 2020: As the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the economy, Indian Railways suffered a massive loss this year. However, the national transporter left no stone unturned to provide the ideal of railway services to passengers by introducing many particular trains, covid security-associated measures, and so forth. In the Union Budget 2020, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the introduction of 150 private trains in the subsequent 3-4 years. Besides, the minister also announced that more Tejas Express-style trains will be place into service on important tourism routes. The Tejas Express trains that are run by IRCTC are a more premium version of the Shatabdi Express-style AC Chair Car trains.
Earlier this year, the Railway Ministry had invited RFQs for the participation of the private sector for operating of passenger trains more than 109 OD pairs of routes by means of the introduction of as quite a few as 151 modern day rakes. These private train services are going to ply more than these routes exactly where there the demand for trains is currently greater than the current capacity. According to the Railway Ministry, the 109 OD Pairs of routes have been formed into twelve clusters across the country’s rail network. Each of these private trains will boast a minimum of 16 coaches. The private trains’ project would entail roughly Rs 30,000 crore investment from the private sector.
Last month, the Railway Ministry notified that the national transporter has completed the RFQ evaluations for public-private partnership (PPP) in Passenger Train Operations Project. Out of 120 total applications, Indian Railways has identified 102 applications that are eligible to participate in the RFP stage. The majority of private trains are to be manufactured below the ‘Make in India’ initiative. For procuring, financing, operating and keeping these trains, the private entity shall be accountable.
It is getting stated that the private trains will be made for a maximum speed of 160 km per hour. With such higher speed, there would be a drastic reduction in travel time. The objective of launching private trains to the Indian Railways network is to introduce modern day technologies rolling stock with decreased transit time, decreased upkeep, provide enhanced security, provide planet-class journey knowledge, increase job creation, as properly as to minimize the demand-provide deficit in the sector of passenger transportation.
The Union Budget 2020 also pointed out introducing more IRCTC Tejas Express-sort trains in the coming years. At present, 3 IRCTC trains are getting operated on the Indian Railways network by the corporation, which is the catering and e-ticketing arm of the national transporter. The IRCTC Tejas Express trains are equipped with many modern day functions such as CCTVs, wide glass-bottom luggage racks, modular bio-toilets, tea/coffee vending machines, sliding doors, automatic entry and exit doors, customized reading lights, contact buttons, charging points for mobiles/laptops, customized LED entertainment-cum-details screens, windows with button-operated Venetian blinds, and so forth.