Indian Railways has already got Cabinet clearance for upgrading the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata routes to 160 kmph and the routes identfied for the operations of private trains mostly fall on these.

Indian Railways puts private trains project on fast-track! Piyush Goyal-led Indian Railways is moving ahead swiftly with its ambitious plan to allow private operators to run trains on the network. For this purpose, Amitabh Kant-led NITI Aayog has put out draft guidelines for discussion purposes with the various stakeholders. The Rs 22,500 crore project will be a game-changer both for the national transporter and passengers who will benefit from world-class train services. The private operators will be allowed to charge passengers market-linked railway fares. Indian Railways will provide track and signalling infrastructure and take haulage charges from the private operators.

Indian Railways has already got Cabinet clearance for upgrading the Delhi-Mumbai and Delhi-Kolkata routes to 160 kmph and the routes identified for the operations of private trains mostly fall on these two branches of the Golden Quadrilateral. Private operators will allowed to operate their own rolling stock or trains provided the meet the standards set by Indian Railways. NITI Aayog has listed 10-12 clusters with over 100 routes that will enable private operators to run minimum 16-coach trains. With over 150 private trains on 100 routes, Indian Railways is hoping to reduce the number of waitlisted passengers as well. Below is the full list of proposed routes by NITI Aayog and Indian Railways for private operators along with the likely frequency of trains in a week:

Indian Railways private trains: Full list of routes

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