Railways to invest Rs 2,00,000 crore during 11th Plan

The Railways will invest Rs2,00,000 crore for modernisation, capacity addition and completion of new projects during the 11th five-year plan, railway minister Lalu Prasad said while addressing students and faculty members of the International Business School, INSEAD, in Singapore.

He said Indian Railways will go in for public-private partnership (PPP) in the non-core areas like setting up of logistic parks, wagon investment schemes and wagon leasing schemes.

The Railways also plan to participate in the setting up of more than 7,000 agricultural outlets throughout the country.

The Railways, he said, would encourage the PPP model for setting up new factories for production of wagons, coaches and locomotives.

The Railways is planning to upgrade 26 major railway stations across the country, including those in the four metropolitan cities, as world class stations. There will be separate departure and arrival facilities for passengers to decongest existing station complex, besides modernised waiting/rest-rooms, multi-level parking, malls etc.

The Railways had a surplus of Rs25,000 crore during 2007-08 and, with its operating ratio of 76 per cent, its performance is much better than those of several Fortune 500 companies, he pointed out.

New initiatives in the freight sector, including construction of dedicated freight corridors, has helped the Railways carry an additional 238 million tonnes of freight and earn more than Rs14,000 crore in additional freight revenue, he said.

The Railways will construct dedicated freight corridors from Delhi to Mumbai and from Ludhiana to Kolkata in the second phase and follow it up with similar projects in other parts of the country as well, which would result in a new revolution in rail freight transportation, he said.