Railways looks to lay PPP track for new projects
Indian Railways is planning to adopt the public-private partnership (PPP) model for developing new projects, officials said, as the state-run transporter looks to share costs of large-scale infrastructure projects.
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The railways is proposing to build key projects including new commecial lines such as mineral corridors in the coming months on the PPP mode, an official said.
There is also a growing view in the government that drawing private investment into railways can free up resources that could be deployed on social sectors and other infrastructure development.
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The shift in strategy follows a infrastructure review meeting attended by several ministries in which it was flagged that the railways needs to also consider PPP for infrastructure creation instead of solely relying on the engineering, procurement and construction mode. However, despite the proposed shift towards the PPP model, the Indian Railways is expected to get a major boost in capital expenditure in the FY26 budget over the Rs 2.62 lakh crore provided for this fiscal year. After making little headway in developing projects via the PPP mode, Railways exclusively funds its infrastructure development, runs freight trains, subsequently recovering the investments through levies on freight movement.
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