Lucknow: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday firmly ruled out privatisation of the railways and said that some vested interests were spreading rumours in this regard.

“There is a misunderstanding that the railways is being privatised. However, I want to make it clear that we are not privatising railways. We cannot go in this direction. You don’t have to worry. It is neither our wish nor thinking,” he said, asking unions not to pay heed to “rumours” in this regard.

Mr Modi, who was speaking at a function in Varanasi where he flagged off an air-conditioned engine at the Diesel Locomotives Work, said that he was emotionally connected to the railways because he had spent his childhood in trains.

“I have an association with the railways that is older than what most railway employees can claim to have,” he said. He announced the setting up of four railway universities that would be directly linked to jobs in the railways.