New Delhi: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad ruled out any reckless privatisation of the railways, saying a cautious approach would be adopted in the implementation of the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model.
However he said that he was not opposed to this developmental model per se.
He asserted that PPP model is neither a fashion nor a compulsion for Indian Railways.
''We only want to maintain control over the railways' core activity, that is running of trains, while non-core activities like modernisation of stations, dedicated freight corridor and logistics parks, would be thrown open to the private sector,'' PTI quoted him saying.
Lalu Prasad said his ministry had formulated an ambitious plan for the modernisation and growth of Railways, entailing an expenditure of Rs 3,00,000 crore over a period of five years, 40 per cent of which was expected to come under the PPP model.
The minister said another area for private participation was the railways' plan to open 'agricultural outlets', which would lead to creation of supply chain and infrastructure facilities for agricultural produce.
''We expect significant participation from the private sector in areas like operation of container trains, construction of Dedicated Freight Corridor, logistics parks and warehouses and modernisation of stations,'' he added.
With regard to modernisation of stations, he said the railways planned facilities like fully air-conditioned waiting rooms, rest rooms, shopping malls, multiplexes, food plazas and multi-level underground parking.
He also said that the Railways had already started work on the ambitious Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project linking Delhi and Mumbai and Ludhiana and Kolkata, at a cost of over Rs 30,000 crore.
''In the near future, we have plans to build corridors on the entire Golden Quadrilateral and its diagonals,'' he said, pointing out that Railways would be keen to encourage PPP in the multi-modal logistics.
However, important functions like control over operation of trains would be a prerogative of the Railways, the minister said. In this connection, Lalu Prasad pointed out that while private players had been allowed to run container trains, the Railways had maintained its control over track and operation.
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