Give up privatisation of express trains: Ramadoss

‘Private firms will start dictating terms’

Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss on Saturday said efforts to privatise 13 express train routes, operated by the Southern Railway, have not been successful, and the Centre should give up. According to him, revenue sharing agreements could be annulled, citing lack of interest by private companies.

“It will not be beneficial to people or Central government. It would only pave the way for private companies to exploit Indian people and infrastructure of railways. Let the effort to privatise railways be considered a failure. Centre should not pursue privatisation any longer,” he said. “Only 10% of the trains are going to be privatised. Since rest will be operated at a low cost (by the Railways), travellers will not prefer private trains. However, if majority of the trains are privatised, situation will change dramatically. Private companies will start dictating terms,” he said.