Rlys refuse pvt players' demand for more money

The railway brass has decided not to entertain demands from some private container operators who said they needed more investment from the railways to build infrastructure.

Earlier this month, some leading container train operators had informed the railways that a condition under which the licences were issued to 14 companies, including Concor, was unreasonable.

The particular clause said the container train operators should construct their own inland container depots.

The container train operators said they could not shell out more money after having paid Rs 50 crore or Rs 10 crore (for less lucrative routes) each, as licence fee.

However, a railways official said there was no question of investing any money in building inland container depots.

"The whole idea behind public-private partnerships is to reduce the burden of the railways in capital expenditure. The container train operators must realise that the railways cannot keep investing so that they can make money," he said.

The container train operators contended that they would have to invest about Rs 350 crore in constructing ICDs while railway officials said the figure might have been exaggerated.

According to the official, the idea behind the railways encouraging public-private partnership was to limit huge investments in infrastructure expansion.

"If we start building infrastructure for these private players, the whole purpose of the public-private partnership initiative will be defeated," he said.