Railways delays ambitious PPP train plan due to capacity, land issues

The Railway Ministry's public-private partnership plan to offer 150 pairs of trains has been pushed further as safety, capacity challenges remain

The Railway Ministry has re-evaluated the plan to offer 150 pairs of trains on a public-private partnership (PPP) mode and decided to wait.

The plan envisaged getting the trains running by early 2024. Two reasons have pushed back the deadline, said a key railway official aware of the developments. The Railways was supposed to offer land to the private operators at Rs 1, a difficult proposition in the present political circumstances. Also, the additional track capacity needed to run the trains has not come online. The Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd is still struggling to