The ministry of railways has asked general managers of all the zones to identify required infrastructure to set up yards to carry out maintenance of the private trains. The zonal railway authorities have to provide the yard infrastructure requirement details by 7th August, based on the information about proposed train’s origin, destination and arrival or departure slots at various stations across 109 routes identified to operate private trains.
The private train operators selected after the bidding process, will have to set up their own maintenance infrastructure at the allotted locations or can use the existing facility. Based on the requirement, the private operators will be allowed to upgrade the facility. It is the responsibility of the railway authorities to make a provision of rail and road connectivity to the maintenance yards, the circular said.
A two-hour slot would be needed in the existing washing lines of Railways for washing, cleaning and inspection after every 7,000 km of running for the private trains. The washing lines needs to be electrified so that trains can be placed or removed from the washing line without using a shunting engine, the letter said.
Respective railway officials are asked to identify suitable originating or terminating stations and slots. That should be reserved according to the timings or days of operation of private trains.