No plans to privatise railways: Piyush Goyal

Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said that there is no plan to privatise the railways.

"There is no proposal to privatise the railways and it will never happen in future also," the Minister said while addressing media to announce the achievements of his ministry in the past four years.

With the railways seeking foreign investment in areas such as technological upgradation, modernisation of stations, rail infrastrecture and making locomotives, there were concerns that the government may privatise the national transporter. This concern was flagged by the railway unions which demanded more clarity from the ministry.

The Minister said that there had been an increase of 59% in the average pace of commissioning of new lines from 4.1 km per day between 2009 and 2014 to 6.53 km per day during 2014-2018.

Admitting that several trains running late due to ongoing maintenance work of the track, signaling and over head electric line, the Minister said the national transporter will soon come out with regular time table for each line with fixed timing for repairing.

The Minister also said that all concerns over the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train will be addressed and the project was on track.

"The bullet train project is on track. In this country there are always issues linked to any developmental project and new ideas. But we have to find solutions and move forward," Goyal said.

The minister also launched two mobile applications - 'Rail Madad' to help customers with complaints and 'Menu On Rails' through which passengers can see meals on offer on-board trains.

To a question on listing the some of the railways public sector undertaking, the Minister said that the RITES, Ircon International and Rail Vikas IPO underway. Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) public issue process of halted as it required correct valuation. Since IRCTC has huge data base, it can be cross utilised, he said.