Suresh Prabhu looks to make Indian Railways an efficient enterprise; says private investment is welcome

NEW DELHI: Highlighting that there is a need to change Railways' functioning in 3-4 years, Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu on Friday said that he wants to make Indian Railways a vibrant and efficient enterprise.

In a meeting with investors meet, Prabhu discussed proposals, possibilities & processes for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and domestic investment in Railway infrastructure and maintenance activities. The new Railway Minister discussed sectoral guidelines pertaining to FDI and domestic investment.

Prabhu emphasised that a framework is required for long term sustainable investment. He also said that the private sector is welcome to invest in railways' infrastructure development.

Prabhu also released a booklet of Framework for Participative Models of Rail Connectivity & Domestic & Foreign Direct Investment.

The government is targeting up to $1 billion of private investment by 2017 to build rail lines linking ports and national networks to ease growing congestion, which has delayed coal imports for power plants and contributed to a power supply crisis.

Such investment would more than double the $400 million that India's state-owned railways have attracted in the decade since they allowed limited private participation and help fund crucial "last mile" links to ports.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants private companies, which have held back from investing in freight lines because of the struggle to win the necessary approvals, to build more of the last mile links where bottlenecks bite the most.

(With inputs from Reuters)