Asia’s oldest railway seeks private money for trains

Shifting gears: Trains on the tracks of Mumbai. India’s Ministry of Railways has asked companies to submit their interest to run passenger trains in the country. — Bloomberg

MUMBAI: Indian Railways, the world’s fourth-largest network, is seeking investments from private firms to operate passenger trains for the first time, an initiative that could potentially revamp a notoriously inefficient system.

The Ministry of Railways asked companies to submit their interest to run passenger trains over 109 origin-destination routes via 151 trains, according to a statement. The project will entail an investment of about 300 billion rupees (US$4bil), the ministry said.