India To Revamp Colonial Era Train Networks, Courting Foreign Investment 

India’s new Prime Minister plans to overhaul the country’s massive state-run railway system. Originally built under British colonial rule, the train system is one of the largest in the world, and serves roughly 25 million passengers every day — but it needs some help. With inefficiency, low investment, and fare subsidies has slowed expansion and maintenance.

Government officials are working on a revival plan they hope will help boost economic growth. A committee on railway safety found that that the current administrative set isn’t modern or dynamic enough to meet the needs of a modern rail network.

“The Railway is in ICU. It needs major surgery,” an official told The Times of India.

On June 25, rail passenger fares increased by 14.2 percent, and freight fares by 6.5 percent as Prime Minister Modi doled out the first dose of “bitter medicine” required to revive the economy.

“To meet all the necessary expenditure, I was forced to implement the order,” Railway Minister Sadananda Gowda told reporters after he made the announcement, according to Reuters.

While it may be the biggest network worldwide, it’s also one of the cheapest. For instance, it costs just 520 rupees ($8.65) to travel more than 860 miles from Kolkata to Delhi on an overnight sleeper train.

Earlier this year, India’s new train minister, Nirmala Sitharaman said the administration is looking into attracting foreign investment for public sector projects such as railways, defense and construction.

“We are not against FDI (foreign direct investment),” she told The Wall Street Journal. “Our position is that we will look [at each sector.]”

 

Source: ibtimes

---