India / 16 private companies show interest in running passenger trains

New Delhi: Several top companies including Bombardier India, Spanish coach and component maker CAF and BHEL are among 16 companies which have shown interest in Indian Railways' private passenger train project. 

 The pre-bid meeting held on Tuesday received an overwhelming response with a total of 16 firms have participated, said the railways.

IRCTC, Medha Group, RK Associates, Bharat Forge and JKB Infrastructure, PSUs RITES and Bharat Heavy Electricals are others who attended the meeting, sources in Indian Railway said. 

However, the railways did not officially disclose who are all participated in the pre-bid meeting. 

The issues and concerns raised by the prospective applicants were discussed and clarifications were provided by the officials of Ministry of Railways and NITI Aayog for improved clarity on the provisions of RFQ (request for qualification) and bidding framework. The queries were mainly related to eligibility criteria, bid process, procurement of rakes, operations of trains and composition of clusters.

 On queries on haulage charges, the Railways has replied that haulage charges will be specified upfront and will be suitably indexed for the entire concession period thereby bringing certainty in the haulage charges.

 "The railways will also be providing the details of passenger traffic being handled on the routes under biding. This will enable bidders to undertake their due diligence in the project," a statement said.

The national transporter also clarified that trains to operated under the project can be either purchased or taken on lease by the private entities.

The Ministry of Railways will be providing written replies to the queries received from the prospective applicants by July 31, 2020. The second pre-application conference is scheduled on August 12, 2020, said a statement.

The ministry invited 12 requests for qualifications for private participation in the operation of passenger train services over 109 Origin Destination pair of routes through the introduction of 151 modern trains. These trains will be in addition to the existing trains operated on the network.

 This is the first initiative of private investment for running Passenger Trains over Indian Railway Network and investment expected would be around Rs 30,000 crore.

 As per the plan, the railways will rollout out private trains by March 2023.

The private entities for undertaking the projected will be selected through a two-stage competitive bidding process comprising of Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP).