Indian Railways has received a total of 120 applications from 15 companies, including L&T, GMR and Welspun, in response to its request for a quote inviting private operators to operate trains on key routes, the rail ministry announced on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Railways began on July 1 the formal process of allowing private trains on 109 routes, a process that aims, for the first time, to open one of the most prominent government companies that in recent decades has been overtaken by demands. of a rapidly growing economy.
Firms that have submitted applications for the clusters include Arvind Aviation, BHEL, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarrriles, SA, Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pvt Ltd, Gateway Rail Freight Limited, GMR Highways Limited, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited, IRB Limited infrastructure developers.
The others are L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited, Malempati Power Private Limited, Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited, PNC Infratech Ltd, RK Associates and Hoteliers Pvt Ltd, Sainath Sales and Services Pvt Ltd and Welspun Enterprises Limited. In total, 14 Indian companies and one Spanish company are in the running to operate private trains in India.
At their pre-tender meeting in August, a total of 23 companies, including Bombardier Transportation India, Siemens Limited and Alstom Transport India Ltd, had shown interest.
A total of 120 applications have been received for the 12 groups, from 15 applicant companies.
“It should be noted that the Ministry of Railways (MOR) had invited the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for private participation in the operation of passenger train services in 12 Clusters that comprise 140 pairs of origin and destination routes by introducing of 151 modern trains to increase the high quality trains were operating on the network, ”the ministry said.
This includes 12 requests for each group from Delhi 2 and Mumbai 2, 11 for the Bengaluru group, 10 requests for Prayagraj, Secunderabad, Jaipur, and Delhi 1, and nine for Chandigarh, Howrah, Patna, Mumbai 1, and Chennai.
The Railways had invited the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for private participation in the operation of passenger train services in more than 12 groups comprising 140 pairs of origin-destination routes by introducing 151 modern trains to increase trains high-quality network operated.
In July, the ministry issued what is known as a request for qualification (RFQ) for private companies to operate 151 trains spread over these routes, setting out specific conditions that must be met in a measure that is intended to “introduce modern and technological technologies. world class services ”for one of the most popular modes of transport in India.
The railroads plan to introduce private trains to their network in phases, with the first dozen to begin operations in fiscal year 2023-24 and 151 in 2027. According to projections from the Ministry of Railways, the carrier will select the companies to operate. private trains for April 2021; The first 12 are expected to go live in 2023-24, followed by 45 more in fiscal 2024-25, the next 50 in fiscal 2025-26, and the last 44 in 2026-27.
According to the ministry, the planned investment will amount to around Rs 30 billion and most of the rakes (70%) will have to be manufactured in India; The private entities authorized to operate the railway services will be responsible for the financing, contracting, operation and maintenance of the trains.
The trains will be designed to operate at a maximum speed of 160 km / h. The ministry expects a reduction in travel time of around 10-15% at 130km / h and around 30% at 160km / h. Initially, they will run at 130 km / h and are scheduled to run at 160 km / h in March 2024.
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