An attractive new scheme will be introduced to encourage public-private partnership in procurement of wagons, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad on Saturday said.

Presenting the Railway Budget 2005-06 in the Lok Sabha, he said the 'Wagon Investment Scheme' would meet the anticipated incremental freight traffic in the coming years.

Prasad said customers investing in railway wagons would be assured of the supply of a guaranteed number of rakes every month.

• Railway Budget 2005-06: Complete Coverage

It would be based on the number of rakes procured and the turn round of the type of wagons, which would be in addition to the normal supply of rakes to such customers, he said.

Prasad said that for such guaranteed rakes would be a rebate in freight of 10 per cent for BOXN wagons for ten years and BCN wagons up to 15 years.

The railway minister said that for such customers adopting the engine on load scheme also, additional two rakes per month would be made available on a guaranteed basis.

But, there would be no freight rebate on these additional rakes, he said.

Apart from this, Prasad said, provision has also been made to provide higher priority in the Preferential Traffic Order for such customers.