Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav on Thursday said railways in India will be "highly profitable" in the coming 5-6 years with its ongoing transformative initiatives. . He was speaking at the 'Times Now Summit 2021'.
According to the minister, the railways' ecosystem would expand and customer experience would undergo a massive transformation. Further, he mentioned that the railways has seen a marked improvement in benchmarks such as punctuality, cleanliness and offering good services to passengers.
"With Prime Minister (Narendra Modi)'s vision, the transformation that is taking place and those that are expected to be in place...in the coming 5-6 years down the line, railways will be highly profitable," said the rail minister. He added that railways will have a "superb" business proposition in the coming years
On the financial position of Indian Railways, the minister said its balance sheet depended largely on the cargo it handles. "The cargo that we handle has to totally transform. We must focus on getting the retail cargo that is for the small industries, for the small businesses, for the tribal living in Ranchi who wants to send, say 'Ragi', to somebody sitting in Delhi," he said.
The Indian Railways enjoyed almost 80 per cent of the market share in logistics in the 1950s which has come down to 27-28 per cent, and the challenge now is to move up from those levels. Railways intends to vie for a bigger share of cargo.
On how private sector participation will be scaled up in railways, the minister said substantial private sector interaction with railways already exists in the form of partners, manufacturers, service providers, and construction contractors ecosystem.
Noting that the country shifted to a model where private and public sectors worked as partners for the construction of highways, he said, "that kind of thing needs to come into railways now".
