The Minister of Railways, Shri Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu has said that Indian Railways will ensure the independence of Rail Development Authority which was proposed last year to enable fair pricing of services, promote competition, protect customer interests and determine efficiency standards. He was introducing the Railway Budget for 2016-17 in Parliament today.

The Railway Minister said that the draft bill will be ready after holding extensive stakeholder consultations and a transparent and streamlined selection process will be taken up keeping Ministry of Railways at an arm’s length. He further said that this single initiative will provide immense confidence to the stakeholders.

Independence of Rail Development Authority to secure fair pricing, competition and customer protection through arm's-length governance. The draft bill will establish a Rail Development Authority with assured independence to enable fair pricing, promote competition, protect customer interests and determine efficiency standards; the Authority will be constituted through extensive stakeholder consultations and a transparent, streamlined, arm's-length selection process to reinforce regulatory autonomy and stakeholder confidence.