by Pensyfan19
This is the exact opposite of Great Britain, who nationalized all of their passenger services due to the virus.
https://www.railwaygazette.com/passenge ... 89.article
https://www.railwaygazette.com/passenge ... 89.article
INDIA: Confirming its intention to work with private operators to address a shortfall in passenger capacity, the Indian Railway Board issued requests for qualification on July 1 for 35-year concessions to operate private trains on the national network from 2023.
IR currently operates around 13 500 passenger trains per day which carry around 23 million people. It estimates that the unmet demand could fill a further 7 000 trains per day, but capacity constraints mean that it has been losing market share to other modes, notably airlines. It is looking to find private partners to procure and operate additional trains between core city pairs, making use of capacity freed up by the opening of the dedicated freight corridors and other enhancement works.
The IR Board has long been looking at PPPs as a way of harnessing private investment to reduce its dependence on borrowing, but in the 2019-20 financial year PPPs only raised 18% of its Rs1·6tr of ‘extra-budgetary resources’ against a planned 33%. The railway has since unveiled a Rs50tr infrastructure investment programme for 2021-30
The Ministry of Railways issued a concept paper earlier this year seeking feedback on the private train proposals, but the bidding timescale has been set back by the coronavirus pandemic. According to IR Chairman V K Yadav, the bidding process is now expected to be finalised by April 2021, and ‘we are expecting that the private train operations will begin by April 2023’.
"Look down, step over, and watch the gap!" - Dr. John Clarke, The Gap Rap (2010)