(MC)
Share price of railways stocks gained 4-11 percent in early trade on July 2 after the Ministry of Railways invited proposals from the private entities to run passenger trains. The Ministry of Railways has finally walked the talk of opening up the running of passenger trains to private companies, a significant reform that is expected to shake up the creaking infrastructure and foster growth.
The ministry on July 1 invited qualification proposals from private entities to run trains over 109 pairs of routes by introducing 151 modern trains. The project would entail private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore, the ministry said in a statement. The 109 original destination pairs of routes have been formed into 12 clusters across the rail network and each train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches.