All that you wanted to know about India’s proposed modern rail travel

Rail travel in India is about to get better. Well, at least on paper.

The Indian Railways has invited proposals from private companies to run 151 modern passenger trains on 109 pairs of routes across the country. The project would entail private sector investment of about ₹30,000 crore, the Indian Railways said in a statement. This is the first time private investments have been sought for running passenger trains in India.

“The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector,” the railways said.

The request for qualifications (RFQs) have already been sent out. It is said that these private trains will be capable of attaining speeds of 160 kmph. The 109 pairs of routes have been formed into 12 clusters that will cover major parts of the Indian Railways network.

Indian Railways will earn by charging the private entity fixed haulage and energy charges as per actual consumption. The national transporter will also get a share in the gross revenue.

Here are the details

• The private trains, designed for a maximum speed of 160 kmph, will result in a significant reduction in travel time for the passengers. The run time of the train will be similar to the fastest Indian Railways train running on a particular route.
• The concept by Indian Railways is similar to “trains on demand”, with the idea of boosting the availability of trains on high-demand routes. The ultimate aim is to eliminate the need for waitlisted tickets on the Indian Railways network.
• The private sector entity will be responsible for not just procuring and financing of the project but also the operation and maintenance of the trains. The concession period for the project will be 35 years.
• From the point of view of passengers, the new project will mean world-class trains providing world-class travel experience and reduce journey times with higher safety standards.
• The private sector entity will have to ensure punctuality, reliability and standard of services for the trains. The trains will be operated by the driver and guard provided by Indian Railways.
• Mumbai to New Delhi, Chennai to New Delhi, New Delhi to Howrah, Shalimar to Pune, New Delhi to Patna are some of the routes where the private trains will operate. Once the dedicated freight corridors will be completed in 2021, additional paths will be available for operation of passenger trains on some routes.
• Each new train will have a minimum of 16 coaches. The maximum number of coaches will not exceed the longest passenger train operating on the respective route. Passengers trains are allowed to run at a maximum speed of 160 kmph.
• The Niti Aayog draft, detailing the project, said the time taken by a private train to complete a path will be comparable to the fastest train of Indian Railways operating on that path with a variation of plus or minus 10%.
• Private trains running on a particular route will have a head start of 15 minutes on other trains running on the same route. “No similar scheduled regular train will depart in the same origin destination route within 15 minutes of the scheduled operation of the concessionaires (private players) train,” the document said.
• Private entities are encouraged to use the latest technologies and top quality features in the trains. From passenger safety to modern GPS enabled announcement systems, Indian Railways has made a list of the new technologies that private trains may include in them.
• Private trains should have modern designs for bogies, stainless steel exteriors or aluminum exteriors and high quality brake systems. Improved safety features with fire retardant interiors, modern couplers with anti-climbing features etc will be provided.
• Trains must have folding steps for easy access for physically challenged passengers.
• GPS-enabled passenger announcement system for on-board announcements for station arrivals, time to next station or destination, and safety announcements should be included as well.
• Private trains must ensure optimum passenger comfort through use of bogies with superior ride index, efficient air conditioning with automatic temperature and humidity control, superior interiors and toilets.
• The private entity will have the last say on deciding the fare on a particular route. They shall be responsible for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains.
• The safety certification of the rakes before each commercial service will be done by Indian Railways based on the safety parameters indicated by Indian Railways.
• Indian Railways will choose private entities through a two-stage competitive bidding process — Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP). RFQ process will be for pre-qualification and shortlisting of bidders based on their technical and financial capacity who will be required to offer a fixed price bid at the RFP stage for undertaking the project.
• Last year, Indian Railways commissioned IRCTC to run private trains on its routes. India’s first private train IRCTC Tejas Express was introduced on the Delhi to Lucknow route.