No plan to run regular passenger trains by private operators: Railway Minister

Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday (20 July) told Lok Sabha that "at present" there is no plan to run regular passenger trains by private operators.

In a written reply in Lok Sabha, Vaishnaw said at present IRCTC runs two Tejas 'corporate' trains on Delhi-Lucknow and Ahmedabad-Mumbai routes. He said both the trains have incurred losses of Rs 58 crore. He said the Lucknow-Delhi Tejas reported a profit of Rs 2.3 crore in 2019-20, but incurred losses in the two subsequent years.

The minister said the cost of granting concessions weighs heavily on Railways, hence extending scope of concessions to all categories of passengers including senior citizens is not desirable. He said in spite of these challenges, Indian Railways has continued concession in fare to four categories which include persons with disabilities, eleven categories of patients and students.

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