Railways keen to launch Gandhi Express, says Minister Suresh Prabhu

Operating with the underlying credo of the government not entering commercial decisionmaking, Railway minister Suresh Prabhu wants general managers (GMs) to be empowered so that they take a call on tendering.

Prabhu reiterated on Tuesday that the national transporter would not be privatised and asked senior officials to put in their best efforts so that the full potential of the gargantuan Railways enterprise is utilised to deliver the best services.

Prabhu told Mail Today that the Railways is keen to launch Gandhi Express, which would take domestic and foreign travellers to various points in Gujarat like Porbandar, Dandi, Sabarmati, Rajkot, Bhavnagar et al which dotted the Mahatma's early life.

Globally, there is huge interest in the Mahatma's early life and the Railways will plug and play into this by taking a train to all the destinations where he spent his formative years.

At the General Managers Conference here, Prabhu said that there are vast expectations from various stakeholders of the Railways and asked the senior officials to live up to those expectations. "There is a need to benchmark our performance so that our full potential is utilised to deliver the best services to the people."

Despite the Prime Minister stating that the Railways will not be privatised, Prabhu reiterated, "Railways will not be privatised and the ownership of it will always remain with the government. We need funds for various pending projects and future projects. Vigorous efforts are being made to mobilise investment in Railways sector."

While Prabhu agreed that the public-private partnership model is the best way forward to build competencies in the Railways, he argued that the trade-off between private capital and public interest needs to be maintained at all times.

Private capital in select Railway competencies is welcome, but the government is completely averse to privatisation. Besides GMs of all zonal Railways, heads of railway production units attended the meet.

The agenda of the conference included formulation of a vision document for the Railways in the next five years with short-term and long-term targets like improving safety and productivity, global benchmarking of railway services for customers, and improving rolling stock.

Prabhu wanted the current vicious cycle to be replaced by a self-sustaining virtuous cycle.