Indore: Understanding the commercial significance of the city, out of 150 private trains to be operated from different cities 2 will be operated from the city for Okhala (New Delhi) and Danapur (Patna). The trains will be Tejas Express and operated by IRCTC.
As per the instruction of the NITI Aayog, the privatization of the Railway has been rolled out. The railway identified 150 commercially viable routes for letting to for operating private trains. From the Ratlam Division of Western Railway only two routes originating from Indore to Okhala (New Delhi) and Danapur (Patna) have been identified for commencing operation of private trains.
Nagesh Namjoshi, former member of Passenger Amenities Committee of Railway Board, informed that the private train will be operated by IRCTS and trains will be Tejas Express. At present only routes have been identified for operation of the trains, but rolling out the operation may take time of about 2 years. He said that identifying the commercial importance of the city the railway has decided to operate private trains from here. It may be point able that former Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has demanded to operate the Tejas train from the city about one year ago.
The operation of the first private trains Tejas started last year October 5 between Lucknow and New Delhi. It is run by the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), an arm of the railways, which recently made its stock market debut. So far all trains in the country have been operated by the state-owned Indian Railways, one of the world’s largest employers. Now, in what appears to be a bid to improve its profitability, it has allowed IRCTC to run the Tejas Express.
