A task force, comprising representatives from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), FICCI, Assocham and senior railway officials, took a decision to this effect at its first meeting. The task force is headed by Shanti Narain, member (traffic), Railway Board and has 10 members.

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee had recently invited private sector participation in various schemes of the Railways especially in areas like manning the level crossings.

The task force would also be bringing out a white paper within a month.A meeting of leading advertising agencies/companies was called for a brain storming session to get an idea regarding leasing out space for advertisements at level crossings and other places. In the beginning, 100 sites would be specified for leasing out space.

The CII was requested to furnish a list of major media buying companies for further discussions with them.

The meeting also discussed build-own-lease-transfer (BOLT) scheme and suggested its short and long-term versions to make it successful. The members emphasised the need for a couple of quick measures to enable the Railways to take up the scheme.

The Railways is in the process of modifying BOLT scheme which failed to take off earlier. Tenders, floated in 1996, for private participation did not get enthusiastic response.

The scheme was planned by the Railways to create immovable assets like track and execute projects like track doubling and electrification.

The modified scheme would be executed by a holding company which would float project-specific special purpose vehicles (SPVs).

The holding company would attract infrastructure status and would be entitled to corresponding tax benefits. SPVs would be formed in association with the financial institutions and the state governments.

The modified BOLT would include clause on force majeure. In the event of political force majeure, like nationalisation, lease rental payments would be made to operators up-front on a bullet payment basis.

No guarantee has been provided for non-political force majeure, like boycott or strikes since lease rentals, would be paid even if the assets are not put to use.

Under the modified scheme, the railways would permit operators to load insurance cost on to the lease rentals since it would be treated as part of the project fixed costs.