NEW DELHI: Indian Railways under Suresh Prabhu has been treading a revenue generation track never explored in the past. The latest in the list is a proposal to rope in private players to run tourist trains at Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), the UNESCO heritage site.
The Heritage Directorate at the Railway Board has sent a proposal to the new non-fare revenue directorate proposing to run tourist trains in PPP (public private partnership) mode at the DHR.
Indian Railways, which runs the World Heritage Site section, had earlier received requests from private players to jointly run the train at DHR but no decision was taken.
“A formal proposal to run train trains in PPP mode has been received and all the details will be looked into. There have been requests from private players who are interested in jointly running the train with Railways,” said a senior railway official.
According to the proposal, the idea is to attract more tourists, increase revenue and improve facility and upkeep of the entire 88.48 km of the 0.610 metre gauge track that connects New Jalpaiguri with Darjeeling, passing through Ghoom at an altitude of 2,258 meters. The innovative design includes six zigzag reverses and three loops.
The DHR was the first, and is still the most outstanding, example of a hill passenger railway. Opened in 1881, its design applies bold and ingenious engineering solutions to the problem of establishing an effective rail link across a mountainous terrain.
The Railways has been trying to rev up its revenue with innovative ideas such selling station and train space for advertisements, having a dedicated railway display network, rail radio, vinyl wrapping of trains, branding of stations and monetising its assets such as passenger-related data, ticketing patterns and vacant land.
A study by RITES under the Ministry of Railways stated that the Railways has the potential to earn `10,000 crore a year just by selling space for advertising in coaches, wagons and platforms, among others.