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Nitish rules out privatisation of Railways

Union Minister for Railways Nitish Kumar on Sunday ruled out privatisation of any of the wings of the Railways and said it would require a whopping Rs 400 billion to implement all its projects on hand.

After inspecting the newly built 'Jan Shatabdi' coaches being built by the Integral Coach Factoryin Chennai, he told reporters that the Rakesh Mohan Committee, appointed by the Railways, had given its report which was now under the consideration of the Railway Board.

"I had an open discussions with the unions in September last on the recommendations of the committee. As far as privatisation is concerned, there is no such proposal with the Railways", he said.

Referring to the funds required for implementing its projects, he said a budgetary allocation of Rs 28 billion had been made in the Railway Budget just presented for this purpose and the balance amount would have to be raised through 'various other sources'.

He also commissioned the first 25 KV Ac/1500 volt DC three-phase dual voltage indigenously manufactured 12-car Electrical Multiple Unit rake for Mumbai suburban service and inaugurated the Regional Rail Museum at the ICF complex in Chennai.

Nitish Kumar said the Railways had kept a target of 5000-km expansion to its network during the Tenth Plan period.

During 2002-03, about 100 km broad gauge line would be added to the existing network.

Replying to a question on cutting down costs and downsizing the organsiation, Nitish kumar said the Railways had been applying its mind on this task for the past ten years.

"We have no surplus staff and in fact, we require more people for operating the train services", he said.

Nitish kumar said the Railways had proposed to introduce sixteen 'Jan Shatabdi' expresses during 2002-03 and all the 180 coaches for these trains would be manufactured by the ICF.

The first Jan Shatabdi train from Mumbai would be flagged off on April 16.

Replying to another question, he said the Union Cabinet had been 'moved' for amending the Railways Act and the Railway Protection Act, to ensure that the RPF personnel, who now safeguard only the properties of the railways, also safeguard the safety of the passengers.

"The RPF personnel will have to shoulder more responsibilities", he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Railways Digvijay Singh while addressing media persons in Ratlam said that there will be no rail privatisation as this would mean handing over profitable projects to private parties.

In case of privatisation, the railways would have to pay a subsidy of Rs 35 billion to private sector for running the projects, Singh said.

"No government can take such a drastic action," he said adding that on the contrary, Railways have taken some works like producing power from private parties.

To a query, Singh said the Railways have allotted Rs 10 billion for power production and added it was not under pressure from the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund.

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