NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways is planning to bring in private players to run trains on key routes as a part of the ministry’s 100-day roadmap.
According to sources, the Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Shirdi routes are the ones that are being considered for this proposal. “Indian Railways is looking to offer two trains to IRCTC for operation on haulage concepts with ticketing and onboard services,” a source said.
Some other routes that are under consideration of the Railways are Ahmedabad-Mumbai, Bengaluru-Chennai and Trivandrum-Kannur. The main consideration for selecting these routes is that they are less than 500 km in length. Currently, the Delhi-Lucknow route has 50 trains on it and the Mumbai-Shirdi route is popular among pilgrims.
Initially, the official e-ticketing and catering arm of the national transporter, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), will be given two trains to run. Officials are hopeful that they will be able to operate at least one train within the next 100 days. The minimum specifications of onboard amenities, as well as the ticket cost, will be decided by IRCTC.