The Chairman said the new Indore-Varanasi Tejas train that would run overnight would have the same rakes as that of the Humsafar Express.
In her budget speech, Sitharaman said, "More Tejas-type trains to connect iconic tourist destinations, and high-speed train between Mumbai-Ahmedabad will be actively pursued."
Two Tejas trains, India's first train of its kind with fully automated features, are being run by the Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) on the New Delhi-Lucknow and Mumbai-Ahmedabad routes.
The first train was launched in October 2019, and the second in January.
Officials said the new train would run three days a week two days via Lucknow and one day via Allahabad and would have sleeper coaches.
Yadav said 150 trains, to be run by private players, were in the pipeline. Till the modalities were worked out, IRCTC would continue to operate them, he added.
The move to let private players run passenger trains has attracted over two dozen firms, including Tata Realty and Infrastructure, Bombardier, Hyundai Rotem Company, CAF India, Hitachi India and South Asia, Essel Group, Adani Ports and SEZ, Talgo, Siemens and Alstom Transport.
While the infrastructure, maintenance, operations and safety will continue to be handled by the Indian Railways, private train operators can take rakes on lease and provide better on-board experience and services to passengers, in terms of food, comfort, entertainment, among others.
A discussion paper issued earlier this month by NITI Aayog, the government policy think-tank, the Railways Ministry has forecast Rs 22,500 crore investment to run private trains on 100 routes.
Companies will have to bid for a network of routes and bids will be finalised on a revenue-sharing model.
Since 2017, the rail budget has been merged with the Union Budget. The NDA government did away with the 92-year-old colonial-era practice and made the rail budget a part of the general budget. Suresh Prabhu was the last Railways Minister to present the separate budget.
Independent India's first railway budget was presented by the first Finance Minister Sir R.K. Shanmugham Chetty on November 26, 1947.
( With inputs from IANS )