Railway Allows Private Freight Terminals

New Delhi: Railways on Monday ruled out allowing private firms to use its network for goods transportation but said it allows private freight terminals.

Rail operation on Indian railway network by private firms is not permissible, Minister of State for Railways Manoj Sinha said here in a written reply in Lok Sabha.

However, private firms can transport commodities using Indian Railway network in containers and can also develop freight terminals, Sinha added.

The permission to run container trains by private players is in vogue since 2006 and so far 17 companies have taken license to run containers trains on Indian Railways of which 15 are active.

Under the scheme the rakes are owned by Container Train Operators and railway has the exclusive right to haul the rakes on its networks.

He said private freight terminals are developed under Private Freight Terminal Policy of 2010 which was revised in 2015.

So far 59 proposals of Private Freight Terminal (PFT) have been received out of which 24 terminals have been notified and 35 granted 'in-principle' approval.