An Empowered Group of Secretaries under the CEO of the NITI Aayog, and not the Railway Ministry bureaucracy, will now decide how best to develop the country’s railway stations through private participation and bring in private players to run 150 trains. AdvertisingThe Railway Ministry ordered the formation of the committee Thursday, after NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant mooted the idea in a letter to Railway Board Chairman V K Yadav on October 7. Kant’s letter had raised red flags over the lack of progress in the Railways’ station redevelopment plan. He had written that the “actual implementation” on the ground has not happened vis-a-vis the original plan to redevelop 400 railway stations. There is an item in the PMO-approved 100 days agenda for the Railways that refers to identifying 50 stations for redevelopment.

Source: Indian Express October 10, 2019 22:07 UTC