Indian Railways is undergoing a massive restructuring under the watch of Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav. He tells Jyotika Sood about the changes in the pipeline. Excerpts:
Private trains
Most private operators would be in the premium segment. If they are able to take care of the premium segment, Indian Railways will be in position to provide more services to the common man because we have our own limitations. At present, we are running around 13,000 passenger trains, and in the next five years we would require an additional 3,000 to 4,000 trains to meet the demand. We need private train operators to take some of the burden. But the private operator won’t have the first right of way and precedence for trains—be it private or government-run—would be according to railway guidelines. And 150 trains from a network of 13,000 is virtually nothing.
Railway Restructuring
We are in transition. It has three components. One is...
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