Indian Railways will not be privatised, says Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there is no plan in the works to privatise the Indian Railways. He was speaking in the Rajya Sabha on the working of his Ministry.

The union minister added that the Railways is a complex organisation with a social obligation. He also recounted that the same assurance was given by the former Railway Minister as well, reported IANS.

Vaishnaw also said the biggest challenge in his sector was capital investment. "Till 2014, the capital investment was only Rs 45,000 crore which was doubled in 2017 and as of now, a total of Rs 2,45,800 crore have been infused".

He emphasised that there is absolutely no question of discrimination against any state. The minister further asked the states to work together with the Centre to ensure that the Railways operate efficiently. He said the Ministry is examining the proposal for Kerala's Silverline project and will make a decision soon.

He asked the states to help with land acquisition so that the Centre can develop rail networks. "Prior to 2014, the average expansion of track laying was only 1,520 km per year but has been brought up to 3,000 km per year now". When asked about the electrification of the routes, Minister Vaishnaw said Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the direction to shift from diesel to electric engines. "So far we have electrified over 50,000 km".

He added that Railways is planning to roll out 75 Vande Bharat trains by 2024. These trains will have Indian-made engines. Two Vande Bharat trains were launched earlier and they travelled up to 2 lakh km so far. The ministry is incorporating the lessons learnt from these trains to improve the new ones.

The Railways is also rolling out small containers for small businessmen and MSME sectors. The Bullet train corridor from Ahmedabad to Mumbai is progressing as per the plan. "80km of elevated corridors have come up".