Railways decides to privatise 50 railway stations, 150 trains

The Railways has decided to hand over the development of 50 railway stations and operations of about 150 trains to private players.

New Delhi [India], Oct 10 : The Railways has decided to hand over the development of 50 railway stations and operations of about 150 trains to private players.

Talking to Executive Director of Railway Board Rajesh Dutt Bajpayee said, "It is always been our endeavour to provide world-class facilities to our passengers. Today an Empowered Group of Secretaries (EGOS) has been constituted."

Bajpayee said, "EGOS comprises of CEO of NITI Aayog, Chairman Railway Board, Finance Commission Railways, Urban Development, Secretary and Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary. Also, two members of the Railway Board (Member traffic and member engineering) will be there in the Group."

"The idea behind forming this group is to ensure that the development process of these 50 stations to be faster," he said.

He said, "There should be transparency in the whole process, the bidding process can start as soon as possible and we can achieve the goal in quick time. The group has been given two important tasks, first to speed up the bidding process and second to make the entire process transparent."

He further said that we are confident that after the formation of this group, the whole process will accelerate because somewhere all these ministries are involved in the development process of any station.

( With inputs from ANI )