India has one of the largest rail networks in the world,
comprising over 115,000km.
In 1951, almost a century after railways were introduced into
India, the network was nationalised but in a bid to encourage
economic growth and improve ailing infrastructure newly-elected
Prime Minister Modi has signalled a new era of foreign direct
investment and the involvement of the private sector in the
development and operation of India's railways.
Parts of the network are now quite old (about 25% of the 130,000
railway bridges are over a century old) and it is reported that at
least USD 93 billion over five years is needed to maintain and
modernise the existing network. But the new government wants to go
further and build high speed lines between key centres, each of
which could cost in the region of USD 10 billion. With almost all
of the network's revenue spent on operating the system and
paying social costs little is left to upgrade the
infrastructure.
