Railways Stocks Rally As Private Companies Invited To Run Passenger Trains

Railways stocks surged 4-11 per cent each in early trading after the Ministry of Railways invited proposals from the private companies to run passenger trains, in an attempt to overhaul the creaking infrastructure and facilitate growth in the sector.

On July 1, the railways ministry invited qualification proposals from private companies to run trains 151 modern trains over 109 pairs of routes. This project would entail private investment of about Rs 30,000 crore, the ministry said in a statement.

Among rail stocks, RITES rallied 14 per cent to Rs 293, Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) surged 13 per cent to Rs 21, Ircon International zoomed 10 per cent to Rs 99 and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) firmed up by 7 per cent to Rs 1,463 on the BSE on the back of the reform measure announced by the government.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty had added 0.9 per cent at the time.