Applications for PPP in Passenger Train Operations project opened today: Railway Ministry

New Delhi [India], October 7 (ANI): Indian Railways on Wednesday opened applications submitted by various entities in response to the Request for Qualifications (RFQs) for PPP in Passenger Train Operations Project.
"The MoR has received excellent response. In all 120 Applications have been received for the 12 Clusters, from 15 applicant firms," said a press statement from the Ministry of Railways.
'It may be noted that Ministry of Railways (MOR) had invited Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for private participation in operation of passenger train services over 12 Clusters comprising 140 Origin Destination pair of routes through introduction of 151 modern Trains to increase high quality trains operated on the network," the press statement read.
It said, this is the first major initiative of attracting private investment for running Passenger Trains over Indian Railway Network. The project is expected to entail private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crores.
According to the press statement, the private entities for undertaking the project would be selected through a transparent two-stage competitive bidding process comprising of Request for Qualification (RFQ) and Request for Proposal (RFP). The RFQ for 12 clusters were published on July 1, 2020.
MoR will expeditiously complete the evaluation of Applications and RFP documents will be made available to the qualified applicants by November 2020. MoR has targeted to award all the Clusters by February, 2021, it added. (ANI)