The Ministry of Railways is turning away from traditional means of financing track laying and maintenance machinery on its own and is increasingly looking at contractualizing the process through private companies as the Railways prepares to lead India's infrastructure expansion.

According to Anil Kumar Lahoti, Chairman of the Railway Board, "the contribution of India's construction equipment industry in supplying crucial equipment to facilitate the growth is crucial to the endeavour." On Thursday in New Delhi, Mr. Lahoti gave a speech at the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers Association's 4th annual financial conference.

In outlining the modernization strategies, Mr. Lahoti stated that the Ministry intended to use long- term contracts to complete track improvements as the Railways prepared for expansion. The machines cost anything between 100 million and 1 billion dollars. Finance will be required for this. Therefore, we intend to compensate contractors according on output or machine availability," he stated.

Internal projections made by the Railways, according to Mr. Lahoti, indicate that over the next six to seven years, at least 2,000 advanced pieces of track construction and maintenance equipment will be needed.