Asia’s Oldest Railway Finally Seeks Private Money to Run Trains
- Indian Railways to allow private firms to run 151 trains
- The $4 billion project could help revamp world’s no. 4 network
Social distancing markers are displayed on a platform as a man wearing a protective mask stands at a door of a train carriage at the New Delhi Railway station on May 14.
Photographer: Prashanth Vishwanathan/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Indian Railways, the world’s fourth-largest network, is seeking investments from private firms to operate passenger trains for the first time, an initiative that could potentially revamp a notoriously inefficient system.
The Ministry of Railways asked companies to submit their interest to run passenger trains over 109 origin-destination routes via 151 trains, according to a statement Wednesday. The project will entail an investment of about 300 billion rupees ($4 billion), the ministry said.