New Delhi, September 17: The Central government is aiming to get Rs 30,000 crore private sector investment in the Indian Railways. The request for quotation has already been floated by the government to invite investments. The last date for applications is October 7.  NITI Ayog CEO Amitabh Kant on Thursday expressed confidence that the public-private partnership model would bring in investments in India for the modern technology of Railways, from across the world. Indian Railways Invites Private Companies to Run 151 Passengers Trains, Says 'Move Will Increase Employment, Bring New Technology'.

The NITI Ayog CEO said that Public-Private Partnership in passenger train operations would create a win-win situation for the Indian Railways as well as investors, by tapping into the potential of huge unmet demand. According to the public-private model, the Indian Railways is looking to have 109 origin destination pairs of trains divided into 12 clusters requiring 151 trains.

Tweet by ANI: 

Kant said, "They're being taken up for transparent competitive bidding and some most attractive routes, based on huge unmet demand, will be put out to run premium passenger services." The partnership brings first of its kind initiative in country where private entities will source and operate modern technology trains for undertaking passenger business, using Indian Railways' infrastructure, added the NITI Ayog CEO. Rahul Gandhi Slams Centre Over Privatisation of Trains, Tweets 'People Will Give Befitting Reply'.

Amitabh Kant's Statement:

Opposition parties targeted the Centre for bringing the public-private partnership model in the Indian Railways. The Congress had alleged that the government was pushing railways into private hands and the public-private partnership was just "jugglery of words".

According to the Indian Railways, Private train operations in the country will begin by April 2023, and the ticket fares in these trains will be competitive with airfares on similar routes. Amid the criticism from the opposition parties, the Railways assure that the public-private partnership model would not result in any job losses but would increase employment opportunities.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 17, 2020 05:19 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).