New Delhi Indian Railways plans to invite bids from private operators to run more than 150 passenger trains in the year starting April 1, after a similar plan failed last year, two people informed of the development.
Railways has identified around 100 destinations where passenger trains will be run by the winning companies. The people, requesting anonymity, said most of the destinations were expected to be the same as in the invited bids last year, but the process had to be scrapped in November due to tacit interest from private companies.
People said the railways has started consultations with investors interested in running private passenger trains and based on their feedback, the bidding norms will be changed to attract more bidders.
Queries sent to a spokesperson of the Ministry of Railways remained unanswered till press time. However, officials said consultations are on and fresh bids may be invited soon with a possible mention in the upcoming Union Budget.
Last July, the railways opened Rs 30,000 crore tender for running private trains on 109 origin-destination pairs. The tender was divided into 12 clusters. Though around 120 applications were received for 12 clusters from around 15 firms, only three clusters received financial bids from Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure (MEIL). Those who showed initial interest included GMR Highways, IRB Infrastructure & Developers, Cube Highways & Infrastructure III and Welspun Enterprises.
Officials said investors need to be clear about the base fare, freight charges, cost of rakes, concession period for the route as it will give returns from such investments.
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