New railway policy to attract private participation

Facing a huge backlog of pending projects worth Rs 1 lakh crore, Railways is planning to opt for build, operate and transfer (BOT) model as part of a new investment policy to attract private participation in rail connectivity and capacity augmentation projects.

Besides BOT, cost sharing model for doubling and multiple line projects will also be a part of the new Railway policy.

"The new policy would be a comprehensive one and more investment-friendly," said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the finalisation of the policy.

Though there are two existing policies to attract private investment, it did not bring required results. The Railways had earlier formulated a policy for industry connectivity in 2010 and coal and iron ore sector connectivity policy in 2011 to attract private sector.

Railways have a huge backlog of pending projects that require more than Rs 1 lakh crore in investments. While new line projects need about Rs 65,000 crore, the doubling and gauge conversation projects require about Rs 40,000 crore for the implementation of these projects.

"Though some proposals came from private players for rail link projects under the existing policies, the same could not be implemented due to various factors. There were problems on implementation side. So we decided to formulate a new policy altogether addressing the issues that had cropped up during the implementation stage," he said.