New Delhi: Twenty three firms including Bombardier, Alstom, Siemens and GMR have shown interest in running private trains in India. Representatives of all the 23 companies attended a pre-application meeting Wednesday as the first step of operating private trains, the Railways said.
There were other companies too that attended the meeting on running private trains in 12 clusters. They are BEML, IRCTC, BHEL, CAF, Medha Group, Sterlite, Bharat Forge, JKB infrastructure and Titagarh Wagons Limited, the Railways informed.
The Railways has invited 12 ‘Request for Qualifications’ for private participation in operation of passenger trains. These trains will run over 109 origin-destination pair of routes through introduction of 151 modern trains (rakes). These new trains will be in addition to the existing ones operated on the network.
This is the first initiative of private investment for running passenger trains on the Railways network. The project would entail a private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore.
The private entities for undertaking the project will be selected through a two-stage competitive bidding process. It will comprise of ‘Request for Qualification’ (RFQ) and ‘Request for Proposal’ (RFP).
