The Central government is moving to hand over some Railway lines and running of some trains to private players. Railway Minister Piyush Goyal stated that it will increase competition and improve customer satisfaction.

This move is dangerous and against the interest of the people. The British Government in India has taken over the Railways from East India Company and has been running it as a government department. It is the biggest organisation in the country covering the entire nation and serving crores of people every day. Railways have its weakness and inefficiency, which necessarily has to be attended to. The poor people use it for their travel at low cost. It connects the entire country, which is used for travel by people as also for transporting goods.

Already the government has started process of privatisation of Railway Station in the name of modernization, through  which the private companies will be able to monetise the land near stations for malls and business purposes and garner huge profits. Just like the private airports like Delhi, Mumbai etc. the cost for every thing inside the Stations will increase.

Any privatisation of Railways is going to increase the travel and transportation charges which will be beyond the ability of the ordinary people to bear. May be better conveniences will be arranged for those who can pay, but trains will be out of reach of the poor people. Prices of all commodities will increase because of the increase in transportation charges. Competition by private companies are sure to increase accidents and derangement as in the case of road traffic.  The move of privatisation of Railways is most dangerous and anti-national.

When the British Government privatised their Railways, the service became inefficient and costly resulting in agitation demanding take over by the government. If that is the state in a small country like England, what will be the situation in a large country like India?

Mighty strong protest actions are required against this anti-people move of the government.