Name: Anuradha Agarwal , Rahul Chaudhary
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume-13, Issue-2, Year-2026 ( july- dec)
Page Number: 43-55
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22643319

Indian Railways (IR), the fourth-largest railway network in the world, has for over a decade been the subject of a slow but deliberate policy shift from a state-monopoly, socially-priced transport utility toward a system that increasingly accommodates private capital and management. This study examines the trajectory, rationale, and public reception of railway privatization in India, combining a review of policy history and comparative international experience with primary survey evidence from 418 passengers and railway employees. The paper traces privatization from the 2006 Container Policy and the 2019 Tejas Express pilot through to the National Monetization Pipeline 2.0 (NMP 2.0), announced in February 2026, which targets ₹2.62 lakh crore in asset monetization between 2025-26 and 2029-30 a 70 percent increase over the first monetization cycle. Survey findings show that 70.9 percent of respondents consider privatization necessary, and 45.5 percent favor a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model over full privatization or continued public ownership; yet 74.5 percent fear higher fares and 52.7 percent fear a widening of income-based access to quality service. The financial record of the Tejas Express India's flagship private-style train, which had accumulated losses of roughly 62.9 crore over its first several loss-making years is examined as a case study in the conditional and volatile viability of premium-positioned private-style services; the most recent available data show a demand-driven recovery in the third quarter of FY 2025-26, with quarterly occupancy of 69% on the Delhi-Lucknow route and 109% on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai route, though full-year profitability for FY 2025-26 has not yet been officially disclosed. Drawing on international evidence from the United Kingdom and Japan, the paper argues that unregulated, full-scale privatization carries demonstrable risk to safety, affordability, and service equity, whereas a calibrated, well-regulated PPP model is both what the public prefers and what the comparative record supports. The paper concludes with policy recommendations centered on tariff regulation, phased implementation, and employment safeguards.

Keywords: Indian Railways, privatization, Public-Private Partnership, Tejas Express, National Monetization Pipeline, transport policy, passenger perception