Railways Finalising Wagon Lease Policy

With the Indian Railways in the process of firming up wagon leasing policy, firms other than Indian Railway Finance Corporation (IRFC) can lease wagons to be run on railways system.

While various options are being examined for the policy, the Railways is essentially looking at players other than IRFC who can invest in special kinds of wagons and lease them to those customers of Railways who have use for such wagons.

This is because general purpose wagons have a higher utilization guarantee than special purpose wagons. “In case a particular commodity ceases to use trains as its transport mode, then Railways can use the general purpose wagons for moving another commodity,” said sources, adding that the Railways would prefer to continue letting IRFC only to invest in general purpose wagons.