No private firm will buy Railways, given the public service obligation: Suresh Prabhhu

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu has ruled out privatisation of the Indian Railways, saying it cannot ignore the common man who depends hugely on the public transporter.

He also said that the railways will have to bear the public service obligation — which is currently between Rs 30,000 and 35,000 crore — for the foreseeable future.

Prabhu rejected a suggestion that in the long-run the railways may no longer be a low-cost common man’s mode of transport and will be more on the lines of privatised services.

“This cannot be done in India,” he said. “I think the railways is a mode of last resort for common people for transportation and we will have to bear that burden as well as the responsibility.”

“You cannot say railways’ problems will be solved by privatisation,” he said during an interaction with PTI on Wednesday. “The solution should be an outcome based approach.

Very few railways in the world are privatised.” He cited the case of British Rail, which was privatised and one of its owners is an Italian state-owned company.

“Who bought it? …. Government entity is buying it,” he said.

He also said no private company will be interested in buying the railways, given the public service obligation that …read more