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Showing posts with label Private participation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Private participation. Show all posts

Thursday, 9 July 2020

09:56

151 Trains proposed to be run by Private operators , would be OVER and ABOVE the already existing trains.

151 Trains proposed to be run by Private operators , would be OVER and ABOVE the already existing trains.
These proposed Trains will run on the routes where the demand for trains is already higher than the existing capacity.
  • 151 Trains proposed to be run by Private operators once the selection process is over, would be OVER and ABOVE the already existing trains
  • These 151 trains are in ADDITION to the existing trains
  • These proposed Trains will run on the routes where the demand for trains is already higher than the existing capacity
  • Ministry of Railways has invited Request for Qualifications( RFQ) for private participation for operation of passenger train services over 109 Origin Destination(OD) pairs of routes
  • The project would entail private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore
  • The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers
  • The driver and guard of the trains will be Railway officials. The safety clearance of trains will be done by Railways only
Posted On: 08 JUL 2020 10:17PM by PIB Delhi
Ministry of Railways has recently invited Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for private participation for operation of passenger train services over 109 Origin Destination(OD) pairs of routes through introduction of 151 modern Trains (Rakes).
151 Trains to be run by Private operators once the selection  process is over, would be over and above the already existing trains .
These trains are going to run on the routes where there the demand for trains are already higher than the existing capacity...
The driver and guard of the trains will Railway officials . The safety clearance of trains will be done by Railways only .
The 109 OD Pairs have been formed into 12 Clusters across the Indian Railway network. Each Train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches.
The project would entail private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore. This is the first initiative of private investment for running Passenger Trains over Indian Railways network.
Majority of Trains to be manufactured in India (Make in India). The private entity shall be responsible for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains.
Trains shall be designed for a maximum speed of 160 kmph. There would be a substantial reduction in journey time.The running time taken by a train shall be comparable to or faster than the fastest train of Indian Railways operating in the respective route.
The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector.
The Private Entity shall pay to Indian Railways fixed haulage charges, energy charges as per actual consumption and a share in Gross Revenue determined through a transparent bidding process.The operation of the trains by the private entity shall conform to the key performance indicators like punctuality, reliability, upkeep of trains etc.
The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector.
The Private Entity shall pay to Indian Railways fixed haulage charges, energy charges as per actual consumption and a share in Gross Revenue determined through a transparent bidding process.
Indian Railways network is about 68,000 route kilometers. In the year 2018-19, the reserved passenger volume was 16% (0.59 billion) of the total originating non- suburban passengers (3.65 billion).  Almost 8.85 crore of waitlisted passengers could not be accommodated.
Ministry of Railways felt the requirement to introduce private participation in passenger train operation which will allow introduction of next generation technology and provision of higher service quality, ensuring use of improved coach technology and reduced journey time. In this direction, RFQ has been already invited to permit private entities to undertake passenger trains operations.
These train services would be operated on the Indian Railway Network where at present both passenger and freight trains are  being operated on the common track. The major trunk routes are saturated and operate at near full capacity. However, with planned commissioning of Dedicated Freight Corridors in 2021 and other infrastructural works, there would be availability of additional paths for operation of additional passenger services and it would therefore be possible to run additional services utilizing modern trains proposed in  the current initiative.
The private entities for undertaking the project would be selected through a two-stage competitive bidding process comprising of Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP). RFQ process will be for pre-qualification and shortlisting of the bidders will be based on their financial capacity, who will be required to offer share in the Gross Revenue at RFP stage (bid parameter) for undertaking the project.
Source:PIBNEWS

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Sunday, 5 July 2020

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Friday, 14 February 2020

09:17

Operation of Private Passenger Trains - Providing World class Services

Operation of Private Passenger Trains - Providing World class Services
515/2019-20  
13-02-2020
Chennai
Operation of Private Passenger Trains - Providing World class Services
●Indian Railways caters to an average originating traffic of 8.29 billion passengers per annum (2017-18). In the year, 2018-19, there was a huge unmet demand in the form of 8.85 crore wait listed passengers. Increased growth in passenger transport requires commissioning of additional trains with enhanced service quality, improved coach technology, and reduced journey time.
●At present, we are running around 13,000 passenger trains and in the next 5 years, we would require an additional 3,000 to 4,000 trains to meet the demand. We need private train operators to take some burden.
○Indian Railways will continue to run its all existing trains and will also keep o­n adding more trains as per its capacity and operational feasibility. The private player operated  trains will run additional trains for the convenience of travelers.
●Indian Railways has planned to permit private participation in operation of passenger train services over 100 routes by introducing around 150 modern rakes. These 100 routes have been formed into clusters with each cluster of around 12 rakes.
●These private train operators will be allowed to procure trains and operate & maintain them.
●The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, provide world class travel experience to passengers, and also reduce demand supply deficit in the passenger transportation sector. Through this arrangement, IR would be running trains with three to four different technologies.
●There would be a reduction in journey time by a minimum of 10-15% o­n the existing maximum operating speed of 130 kmph.
●The Private Entity shall pay to IR necessary fixed charges (haulage charges including energy charges). Private trains would be run by loco-pilots (engine drivers) and guards from Indian Railways o­nly.
●The Private Entity shall have the freedom to decide o­n market determined fare to be charged from its passengers.
●Private train operations will help Railways to bring the latest global technology and lead to drastic improvement in punctuality and quality of services being offered to passengers.
 ●This will provide premium services akin to airlines to the people of the country and create benchmarks and competition in th sector to ensure improved service delivery. There would be many additional customer friendly facilities as compared to normal trains such as:
○Airline like o­n-board services i.e infotainment, high-quality food & beverage with local and ethnic cuisines, shopping etc
○Compensation to passengers in case of delay in train operations
○Free insurance
○Baggage pick up-drop facility etc.
●With the o­ngoing capacity creation and enhancement works of Dedicated Freight Corridor, increasing the speed of Delhi-Mumbai, Delhi-Howrah sectors to 160kmph, there will be availability of additional line capacity to run additional trains to fulfill the unmet demand of passenger services.
○The likely commissioning of Dedicated Freight Corridors in 2021 and other infrastructural works have been considered while identifying the routes under the proposed initiative
●In view of initiation of private train operations,  approval was given by the Ministry of Railways to IRCTC to operate 2 Tejas trains o­n pilot basis o­n New Delhi - Lucknow and Mumbai - Ahmedabad sectors.
○2 Tejas trains, first o­n Lucknow – New Delhi route was inaugurated o­n 4.10.2019 and the second o­n Ahmedabad - Mumbai route o­n 17.01.2020. First time ever passenger facilities being provided in the Tejas train are:
Airline like o­n-board services i.e infotainment, high-quality food & beverages etc.
Compensation to passengers in case the train gets delayed
●Rs. 100 in case of a delay of more than an hour
●Rs. 250 in case of a delay exceeding 2 hours
○3rd train to be run soon this month by IRCTC o­n Varanasi - Indore route which will have sleeper berths
●IRCTC business of private trains is drawing a very good response and occupancy is likely to increase more as passengers get accustomed to new train timings.
●Considering that the initiative is first of its kind in Indian Railways, emphasis has been laid o­n stakeholder consultation, placing the draft bidding framework documents o­n the public domain. In order to understand the issues and concerns of various stakeholders thereby enabling wider participation in the bidding process, two stakeholder conferences were held. This exercise has been done to understand the issues and concerns of the stakeholders with regard to the project and address the risks through a suitable risk reward framework.
●The bidding framework for undertaking this initiative shall be in line with the extant guidelines of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India for PPP projects.
●The bidding documents would specify the key performance indicators to be achieved by the private entity and also the quality of the services to be provided to the passengers. There would be specific penalties for failure to achieve the requisite levels of performance.
●The project framework would provide sufficient flexibility and freedom to the private entity to innovate, add value thereby reduce the cost of operations and enable providing cost effective services to the passengers.
●The major trunk routes of Railways are saturated and operate at near full capacity. Indian Railways runs approximately 13,000 passengers carrying trains per day. With massive infrastructure creation works in progress through multitracking of tracks and Dedicated Freight Corridors, significant capacity will be created and Railways will be able to add many more trains in the coming future apart from the 150 trains planned through private operators. 
●Operation of trains with improved travel comfort to the passengers, increased availability and reliability and reduced transit time require induction of trains with modern technology. This initiative is likely to result in a shift in the passenger travel from road as well as air to Rail and would increase the overall availability of transportation services to the people.
●This would increase the revenue to Railways in terms of Haulage Charges and share in the revenue of the private entity. The competition and increased options to the public would result in improved quality of service and also improve the economy in operations.

Source:Southern Railway
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Friday, 8 September 2017

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Wednesday, 1 February 2017

06:08

Budget 2017:Indian Railway May allow Private Player Participation to Run Rail Network

Budget 2017:Indian Railway May allow Private Player Participation to Run Rail Network

Railway Budget 2017: Modi government may allow airport-like private player participation in railways, says TV report
The Narendra Modi government is looking at a proposal to allow private players to run rail network on the lines of the airport leasing model.

Are private players all set to get the opportunity to run rail lines of the Indian Railways? If a report in ET Now is to be believed, then the Narendra Modi government is looking at a proposal to allow private players to run rail network on the lines of the airport leasing model. The government weighing the proposal that will allow private operators to run trains using government tracks and stations. According to the channel, the government is keen to allow private players in core rail activities. The move to consider such a step comes in the backdrop of the fact that freight traffic is down and cannot be relied on anymore to subsidise passenger fares, the channel reported. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley may introduce this proposal in this year’s Budget 2017.
This year the Budget 2017 is unique not only because of the fact that it has been preponed to February 1, but also because it will include the Railway Budget. For the first time in Independent India, a separate Railway Budget will not be presented. Recently, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley made a case for the railways to outsource non-core functions like hospitality services.

As the Indian Railways is saddled with under-recovery of over Rs 32,000 crore from the passenger segment, an across-the-board hike in fares could be expected soon. Though the transporter manages to fend for itself, its mammoth, legitimate capex needs are a nagging burden on the exchequer and so commuters will have to pay up, Jaitley has indicated.
Speaking at a conference on Accounting Reforms in Railways organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Jaitley said, “Railways got caught in a battle where populism prevailed over performance.. For any commercial establishment to be run, the first essential principle is that consumers must pay for the services that they receive.”

Revenue from the passenger segment is estimated to be Rs 52,000 crore for the current fiscal, up 12% from last fiscal. Revenue from the passenger segment is just over a quarter of the railways’ gross traffic receipts, as the bulk of its revenue comes from freight, with coal, foodgrains, iron ore and cement being the virtual milch cows for it.



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Thursday, 30 July 2015

13:39

Modernise Railway Station fill the gap of food service companies

Mumbai: The central government’s decision to modernise 400 railway stations in India has brightened the growth prospects for food service companies such as Travel Food Service(TFS), Lite Bite Foods, Jubilant Food works among others, within the travel retail sector. Indian Railways handle over 800 crore passengers a year — a huge captive business for companies.
“When it comes to Indian Railways, there are various local and unorganised players who run the railway canteens on long-term tenders and sometimes they are run by the government,” said Ankur Bisen, vice-president, retail at Technopak Consultants, adding that this potential can be well tapped by the organised players with efficient systems and technology.

The government plans to modernise 400 railway stations under A1 and A categories which have an annual passenger earning of more than Rs 50 crore, including key stations in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, Pune, Bhopal, Jaipur, etc.

With the rapid growth of passenger traffic and growing disposable income, brands cannot choose to ignore this segment for too long. For instance, railway stations handle over one lakh passengers a day and these passengers on an average spend around Rs 100-125 on a meal.

“While the passenger spends in a railway station are less than that of an airport, the former will give us almost double the volume of business than in an airport,” said Gaurav Dewan, chief operating officer, TFS, which has recently won the contract to develop food courts at Pune and Vishakhapatnam railway stations. The company, a subsidiary of K Hospitality Corp, is partnering local F&B brands in these markets to bring the local flavour.


IR food mkt“Customers in a railway station look for more regional and local cuisine which should be competitively priced and easy on the pockets,” said Dewan. There are four kinds of F&B formats in railway stations — food courts, kiosks, vending and onboard catering — which are tendered by Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC). Industry experts point that setting up a food court at a station entails an investment of around Rs 15-20 crore. According to Varun Kapur, director, TFS, the company has readied investments to the tune of Rs 200 crore in railways and airports over the next 2-3 years.

Jubilant Foodworks, which runs Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts in the country, recently started a trial project with IRCTC to deliver pizzas onboard 201 trains and 41 stations. “This is qualitatively a big opportunity and we are very positive about it, but we cannot ascertain it’s quantum without a trial of consumer response to this new service and also logistical feasibility of delivering hot and tasty pizzas on train seats,” said Harneet Singh Rajpal, senior vice-president, marketing, Domino’s Pizza India.

Lite Bite Foods too has initiated discussions with the railway authorities to develop its brands in stations. “Railways is a huge opportunity and untapped potential for us,” said Rohit Aggarwal, director, Lite Bite Foods, which owns quick service restaurant brands such as Punjab Grill, Street Food by Punjab Grill and Bistro Cafe Baker Street. The company’s recent joint venture with US-based food service firm HMS Host will bid for the railway projects, said Aggarwal.
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Monday, 15 June 2015

09:53

Debroy Panel recommends opening the door to private sector in specific areas

Debroy Panel recommends opening the door to private sector in specific areas

New Delhi: The Bibek Debroy committee on the restructuring of the Indian Railways has made it clear that the organisation requires an investment of an amount that cannot be entirely provided by the public exchequer. In fact, railway minister Suresh Prabhu had underscored the need for heavy investment in his budget speech this year. This is all the more important because the government has to shoulder the burden of the enhanced salaries and pensions of central government employees after the Seventh Pay Commission gives its report. The panel has stuck to its earlier stand of opening the door to the private sector in specific areas. For example, it would be a good idea to have private parties investing in rolling stock, and going by the recommendations of the panel, the best thing would be to allow them to establish their own units and then sell their products to the Railways.

But the devil is always in the detail. As land acquisition is turning out to be increasingly difficult, it is questionable how far any private party would be interested in track laying. The same is true for signalling. Also the suggestion that there should be a railway regulator has to be looked at cautiously because such a body might encroach upon the powers of the railway board. Though the panel has proposed the reorganisation of the railway board and the Group A railway services, it is not clear at this stage what shape these suggestions might take. It was predictable that there would be a proposal for the Railways to withdraw from its non-core activities such as running schools and hospitals, but the dominant thinking is that every public organisation, including the police and the defence services, should undertake such work. The panel would have done well to suggest how these could be run better. Similarly, it could have avoided suggesting that state governments pay for the maintenance of the General Railway Police.

Avoiding the suggestion of privatising the Indian Railways, or any of the public sector units under it, has been the signature of the report. Allowing private companies to set fares would not be a good thing because the operators would then ask for a free hand and would have run into frequent problems with the regulator. This could cause the government considerable embarrassment because this is an area that is highly sensitive politically.
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Monday, 4 May 2015

20:39

Regulatory Body needed for Private participation in Railways: Suresh Prabhu

Regulatory Body needed for Private participation in Railways: Suresh Prabhu

Railway Minister ascertain that Vice-chairman of NITI Aayog, Arvind Panagariya has been asked to draw a Road Map for inviting private investments in Railways

“A regulatory mechanism is specifically required for it. That is why we are having regulatory framework so that private participation does not compromise public interest, does not hamper public function. Private sector also need not worry about the security of their investment. We have to trade off the balance between private and public,” Prabhu told PTI in an interview.

Asked about the contours of the proposed regulatory body, he said, “(It would be) like all regulators on Telecom, Power or SEBI.”

He further said, “Arvind Pangariya has been requested to suggest a road map. He is independent, very intellectual, very competent and also part of our system as he is vice chairperson in NITI Ayog.

“He met me recently and we discussed the issue. Once he is ready with with the model, we will have wider discussion and we will put it on website for comments.”

Railways is offering projects relating to capacity augmentation, betterment of passenger amenities and high speed service among others for private participation.

On the recent CBI raid on the alleged under-reporting of the actual weight of loaded goods wagons through the manipulation of software, Prabhu said it was a joint action to remove corruption.

“When we discovered that there could be a possibility of under-weighing, we asked our vigilance to go into the root cause, investigate and take action. It’s a joint action and we have clear instruction to our vigilance department that go to the root cause.

“Earlier I had lodged complaint with police for recruitment scam in railways. Somebody was sending letters that you have got the job immediately so deposit money in some account. FIR was filed at different locations. The whole idea is to bring in transparency and remove corruption”, he said.
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