23 Companies Show Interest In Running Private Trains In India
Indian Railways has identified 109 busy routes across India to run private trains for about 35 years.
L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd., Siemens AG, Bharat Forge Ltd. and GMR Group are among 23 companies that have shown initial interest in running private trains on one of the world's largest rail networks.
Bombardier, Alstom, BEML Ltd., Medha Group, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd., Sterlite, JKB infrastructure, IRCTC, and Titagarh Wagons Ltd. also showed interest in the second pre-application meeting, the Railway Ministry said on Wednesday.
India plans to run 151 private trains in 12 clusters in the country, drawing estimated investments worth about Rs 30,000 crore. The pre-application online conference is a prelude to the request for qualification. In the first meeting, 16 companies had participated and sought clarifications.
The ministry said based on the concerns raised in the last meeting, the railways has reduced the price for request for qualification by a tenth if a company is participating in more than one project. The railways also clarified that the leasing of trains is allowed.
The response for the second application conference will be uploaded by Aug. 21, and the due date for opening RFQs is Sept. 8.
Meanwhile, the government has identified 109 busy routes across India to run private trains for about 35 years. The ministry aims to close the bidding process by the end of this financial year, and the first set of 12 trains is expected to roll out by FY23.