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New Delhi, Jan 4 (UNI) The booming containerised railway traffic was today formally thrown open to private players with the Railway Ministry signing concession agreements with private operators, signalling the end of the monopoly status of the state-owned Container Corporation of India (CONCOR).

Incidentally, CONCOR was among the 14 operators which signed the agreement at Rail Bhavan in the presence of Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Describing the event as a ''historic initiative in the Public Private Partnership'' and a 'leap forward'' in the history of container traffic of the Railways, Mr Prasad said it would signal a new beginning in freight operations.

''We have hammered out an agreement on the basis of which the Railways and licence holders will script a grand success story. It wil prove to be 'a winning proposition' for the Railways, a 'double win' for license holders and a 'triple win' for consumers,'' the minister said.

Mr Prasad assured that the agreement had been formed in a manner that would enable the private operators to raise loans from banks.

He also expressed happiness over the fact that the 14 operators would be investing Rs 400 crore in the manufacturing of wagons required for runing of container trains. ''I am confident that in the next few years we will be able to attract investment worth hundreds of crores of rupees in the construction of wagon and container terminals.'' The Railways had already collected Rs 540 crore from the 14 operators as licence fees. In addition, the Railways will collect haulage charges from them every year at rate fixed by it.

On January 5 last year, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad had thrown open railway container business to private players, allowing companies and individuals to run container trains for both import-export and domestic operations in a competitive environment.

Besides CONCOR, the 13 private companies, which signed today's agreement, are: the Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Infrastructure Engineering, Mumbai; Adani Logistics; Box Tran Logistics; Delhi-Assam Roadways Corporation Ltd; Central Warehousing Corporation; Gateway Distri Parks Ltd; Ken Terminals; Container Rail Road Services Ltd; India Infrastructure&Leasing Private Ltd, Mumbai; Innovative B to B; Pipavav Railway Corporation LTD; and SICAL Logistics, Chennai.

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