Railway ministry meet on freight corridor

The railway ministry plans a conference of experts to thrash out the details of financing the Rs 22,000-crore dedicated freight corridor. It has already circulated a Cabinet note on the project.

The conference, to be called next month, will be attended by leading credit rating agencies and investment bankers from all over the world.

This is besides representatives from central and state governments and large public sector undertakings. Public-private partnerships in general will also be discussed.

According to sources, the conference, Public Private Participation Round Table""India Rail, is expected to help the Railways get suggestions from lending institutions. The Railways have said they were eager to discuss the division of the corridor into 4-5 BOT packages.

Key issues that would be discussed include an ideal debt-equity ratio, including capping of debt and the track access charges to be realised by the proposed special purpose vehicle.

The Railways also plan to use expertise of participants to rope in PPPs for freight car manufacturing and leasing, multi-modal logistic ports, rail overbridges and port-rail connectivity projects.

The railways of other countries are expected to share their experiences while creating SPVs for construction and management of heavy haul or high-speed passenger corridors.