No proposal to privatise operations of Indian Railways: Goyal

The government has said that there is no proposal to privatise railway operations but there is a proposal to outsource the commercial and onboard services of a few trains and to permit private players to induct modern rakes to run trains on select routes.

The information was given in a written reply by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in Rajya Sabha on Friday.

"There is no proposal to privatise the operations of Railways. However, there is a proposal to outsource the commercial and onboard services of a few trains and to permit private players to induct modern rakes to run trains on select routes with an objective to provide improved service delivery to passengers," he said.

The minister said the responsibility of train operations and safety certification rests with Indian Railways.

"Outsourcing of certain services like station cleaning, pay-and-use toilets, retiring rooms, parking and platforms maintenance is being done on a need-based manner to improve cleanliness and other services," he said.