Travel With Ram's video: Indian Private Train Services - Good or BAD Get your Doubts Cleared

The Private Train plans of the Indian Railways have moved one step further with the Ministry of Railways inviting Requests for Qualification (RFQ) proposals from interested parties. According to a statement by the Railway Ministry, RFQ have been invited for 109 route pairs over the Indian Railways network as of now. The RFQs are for the operation of 151 private train services over the 109 route pairs that have been decided upon. These train services will be split among 12 clusters. Rolling stock for these private train services are to be capable for a maximum speed of 160 kph and each rake is to consist of 16 coaches. This is the first initiative of private investment for running Passenger Trains over Indian Railways network. The objective of this initiative is to introduce modern technology rolling stock with reduced maintenance, reduced transit time, boost job creation, provide enhanced safety, provide world class travel experience to passengers. The project would entail private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore. Majority of Trains to be manufactured in India (Make in India). The private entity shall be responsible for financing, procuring, operation and maintenance of the trains. The Concession Period for the project shall be 35 years. The Private Entity shall pay to Indian Railways fixed haulage charges, energy charges as per actual consumption and a share in Gross Revenue determined through a transparent bidding process. These trains shall be operated by the Driver and Guard of Indian Railways. The operation of the trains by the private entity shall conform to the key performance indicators like punctuality, reliability, upkeep of trains etc. Operation and maintenance of the passenger trains would be governed by standards & specifications and requirements specified by Indian Railways. Railway Minister says “Private players will not get operations — driver, guard, safety certification, infrastructure will remain with railways,” he had said. “Private players will only get on-board services — entertainment, food, cleanliness, passenger amenities, fare collection.” So what is the real motivation behind this thrust - 1. The passenger services of IR is a loss making one. Most of the Service Types loose money. Among the luxury trains only Shatabdi's make money. Among Non AC tickets the General Sitting tickets make the most of profit. So the Railways want to strengthen the Shatabdi segment and address the demand supply gap. Services like Garib Rath and Duronto are loss making many times over and they were ill throughout popularity measures. 2. Railways needs money to strengthen tracks, install modern signalling, doubling & Electrification. The seed money from private operators can come in handy. 3. Trains are slotted to run from 2023 only. There are many steps and there are bound to be lot of unknown issues at this time. 4. The concerns like - Privatization, Fares, Routes can all be well addressed. 5. No private company in India or the world has the financial, operational and logistics necessary to RUN Indian Railways fully. Even running one single Zone is a mammoth job. 6. Private operator can decide on their Trains but they must be approved operationally by IR/ RDSO on Indian network. 7. In America the tracks are owned by U Govt but the entire train services bot passenger and Freight are run by private operators. The largest single private operator is AMTRAK. in the freight space there are many companies. In Europe and UK there are private operators running trains on Govt Network. There are many companies operating trains in the United Kingdom, including the 22 operators of franchised passenger services, officially referred to as train operating companies (TOCs), as distinct from freight operating companies. 8. The initial experiment with IRCTC seems to have gone well so far but would certainly need tweaking. Link to Railpost - https://www.railpost.in/private-trains-full-list-arrival-departure-times-days-of-running-of-proposed-trains/ The 12 Clusters are : Mumbai CR ( 16 ), Mumbai WR ( 24 ), Delhi 1 (14), Delhi 2 (12), Chandigarh(18), Howrah(22), Patna(20), Prayagraj (26), Secundearbad (20), Jaipur (18), Chennai ( 24), Bengaluru ( 20). My Camera Gear - I use different Cameras for different purposes. My TOP Camera for long Zoom and some fascinating 4K stuff it is Panasonic FZ 300. Canon G7X MKII is my ideal choice for wonderful Video logging and some night photos. For catching actions, scenes on the go, and some hard stuff to catch using normal camers I use GoPro - GoPro Session 5 and GoPro Hero Black. For on the spot, on the Go and unanticipated and unexpected catches I use my new iPhone XR / OnePlus 6. Catch my Travel Experiences om my channel " Travel with Ram " - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIdwMTDfH-Mqep4-txds62Q/