Says railways will remain with the government Hyderabad: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday made a strong pitch for investm...
Says railways will remain with the government
Hyderabad: Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Monday made a strong pitch for investment in railways from all possible sources to improve the operating ratio and to turn around the State-run transport behemoth into a profit making entity. peaking at the 15th national seminar on Public Private Partnership (PPP) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Indian Railways, here in the city, Prabhu said the present railway network was unable to cater to the ever increasing demand.
Two-third of the revenue was accrued from freight and the demand for railway network was increasing by leaps and bounds. Allaying fears of people on FDI, he said the railways need private capital but not privatisation. “Railways will never be privatised and would be owned by the Government of India. It has to be turned into an engine of growth and if the economy is to grow at a rate of nine per cent, there is a need for logistic support.
Union Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu launching the Nanded-Aurangabad Express Weekly through remote video link at Secunderabad Railway Station in Hyderabad on Monday. Union Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Telangana Deputy CM Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Home Minister Naini Narasimha Reddy, Excise Minister T Padma Rao Goud, Congress leader V Hanumanth Rao and SCR General Manager V K Srivastava also seen.
Doubling the capacity, developing corridors, utilising latest technology, upgrading stations and improving cleanliness and food on trains is the need of the hour and the railway needs to find financial resources,” he added. Citing the example of China, he said it had invested 12 per cent Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in developing infrastructure year after year.
The present budget was not enough and there was a need to modernise railways and for that investment was needed. The solution lies in decongesting railway lines and gave the example of high density railway track between Delhi and Kolkata that was unable to meet the present demand. There are 359 pending projects that need Rs 1.18 lakh crore.
“Indian Railways is at crossroads and there is a need for innovation and robust strategy and delivery mechanism. In the past, PPPs have been successful especially in connecting ports. FDI in rail transport will open a gamut of options,” opined D P Pande, member traffic, Centre for Transportation Research and Management (CTRAM). Noting that there was a need to prioritise projects, E S L Narasimhan, the Governor of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh said there was need to take up work where there was greater freight traffic.
