Indian Railways' (IR) trade unions have threatened to launch protests of national scale against railways' plan to privatise a few trains on Quit India Day (August 9) echoing the sentiments of Mahatma Gandhi's movement.

Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav had said that the specially manufactured first private train will be flagged off by 2023. However, country's largest railway union, All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) has issued a statement asking railwaymen across the country to lodge protests against government handing over trains to corporate companies and inviting private players'.