The Railways is opening up for investment by foreign and domestic players sanctioned projects worth ₹12,000 crore.

This amount would go up if one were to add the high-speed rail link projects costing almost ₹77,000 crore which are yet to be sanctioned, and some projects — such as the North-South freight corridor and passenger terminal development of several stations — whose costs are yet to be worked out.

The Railways has sanctioned projects running into lakhs of crores on which work has not started because of dearth of funds. Broadly, the Ministry is putting up for private participation projects that are expected to be financially remunerative and on which construction work has not started. Also, many of these projects have the provision of a subsidy element — called viability gap funding — from the Finance Ministry.

“Most of the projects — with the exception of some such as high-speed rail links — have been sanctioned by Parliament. The plan is to put out these projects and get investor response. We will accordingly prioritise the processing of these projects,” said a Ministry official.

Among the key freight lines where the Railways is looking for private or foreign investments are the 282-km Dankuni-Gomoh rail link requiring ₹4,500 crore and the 52.9-km Whitefield-Kolar line (₹353.45 crore). Investors can also participate in the freight sections that need to be doubled as the existing line is congested: Ajmer-Bangurgram (₹144 crore), Durg-Rajnandgaon (₹153 crore), Wardha-Nagpur (₹298 crore), Kazipet-Vijayawada (₹1,054 crore), Bhadrak-Nergundi (₹837 crore), Sambalpur-Talcher (₹680 crore), Manoharpur-Bodamanda (₹258 crore) and Rajkharswan-Chakradharpur (₹174 crore). Also, on offer are locomotive maintenance depots at Barauni, Daund, Mughal Sarai and Bondamunda. These depots, put together, require ₹300 crore.

The other projects identified for private participation include a factory for manufacturing aluminium coaches at Palakkad (₹550 crore), electrical and mechanical units in Kachrapara (₹1,200 crore), periodic overhauling of wagons at Sonpur (₹300 crore) and midlife rehabilitation of coaches at Anara (₹185 crore). The factories for which the Ministry will invite bids will also have a transfer of technology element. On the high-speed rail front, the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor (₹63,200 crore), the Chennai-Bangalore-Mysore and the Mumbai (CST)-Panvel line (₹14,000 crore) are also open for private and foreign investments.

The routes where investors can put up automatic signalling systems to enhance line capacity are Agra-Gwalior (₹250 cr), Gwalior-Burhpura (₹280 cr), and Burpura-Bina (₹270 cr). Construction and management of railway stations at Habibganj, Shivaji Nagar, Anand Vihar, Bijwasan, Chandigarh, Surat, Gandhinagar, Mangalore, Ernakulam, Vijayawada, Nagpur, Byappanhalli and New Bhubaneswar are also open for private investments.