Government to give Private Railways freedom to set fares

The government will allow private companies to set their own passenger fares when the train services start in the country. This move is mainly made to lure investors.

The government will allow private companies to set their own passenger fares when the train services start in the country. This move is mainly made to lure investors.

VK Yadav, Chairman of Railway Board said that “Private players have been given the freedom to fix shares in their own way. But air conditioned buses and planes also operate on those routes, so they have to keep that in mind before setting their fares.”

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Alstom SA, Adani Enterprises, GMR Infrastructure Ltd and Bombardier Inc have expressed interest in these projects. According to an estimate from the Ministry of Railways, the projects are capable of bringing more than $ 7.5 billion in the next five years.

The government had asked companies to send their interest to run passenger trains over 109 origin-destination routes via 151 trains in July.

Modernizing the railways has now become very important as the current railway network is congested and old.