Private container traffic: Model agreement ready

One year after the railway ministry announced the policy for permitting private operators to run container trains on its network, it has managed to prepare the model concession agreement (MCA) for the same.

The MCA is the significant cog on which the entire policy is supposed to run, and due to the delay on part of the ministry to prepare it, the much hyped policy remained grounded throughout the year.

In fact, it was only today that all the 14 parties got the MCA document. The players would have a discussion on its fine prints on Saturday with the railway officials.

Ministry sources said the project should take off within a week, once the agreement is signed by all concerned.

The ministry had collected Rs 540 crore in terms of licence fees from 14 private players, which included the likes of Rajeev Chandrasekhar's Indian Infrastructure and Leasing (IIL) and Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Infrastructure and Leasing, for running container trains in the country.