Railways Minister Piyush Goyal in June asserted that there are huge opportunities for private businesses in the sector as the national transporter is willing to lease out traffic routes and parcel trains to them. Citing the example of the national transporter’s plan to hand over the services of 150 trains to private operators, he asked the private sector to join hands with the railways. At an event organised by CII, Goyal, in his address through video conferencing, said: “Private sector can support in million ways... and I am going to lease out new routes.” He asked the private players to identify the route where they want to set up a train service. “If you want, we are willing to co-invest with you in the new lines. We are willing to lease out traffic routes, we are willing to lease out parcel trains. So, there are a lot of opportunities opening up for the private sector,” he said.

He also suggested the private sector to look at the option of elevated corridors along the national highways to avoid the delay in the process of land procurement. Highlighting the achievements of the Railways, Goyal said that on Sunday, the national transporter was able to move about 95 per cent of the freight that it did on June 21 last year.