<p>Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) are in talks to partner up and run private trains through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that the two public sector undertakings (PSUs) are planning to form, sources <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/irctc-and-bhel-in-talks-for-a-partnership-to-run-private-trains-121080300036_1.html" target="_blank">told </a><em>Business Standard</em>.</p>.<p>IRCTC will put in bids for routes and the companies will run passenger trains on these routes through the SPV. </p>.<p>"BHEL will be putting in the money required for private rail service, while IRCTC is going to focus on operational requirements. IRCTC’s business model has not been capital expenditure-focussed. It has built only operational enhancements," an official told the publication.</p>.<p>Bids for a public-private partnership (PPPs) in passenger train operations were opened last month and according to a statement from the government, bids have come in for 29 pairs of trains with around 40 modern rakes, entailing an investment of around Rs 7,200 crore. </p>.<p>Several top companies including L&T, GMR and Welspun were in the race to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage to operate private passenger train services in November last year.</p>.<p>Out of 120 applications from 16 firms at the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, 102 applications were found eligible for the RFP stage, the Ministry of Railways said.</p>.<p>The Railways invited bids from private firms to operate passenger train services in over 12 clusters comprising more than 150 origin-destination pair of routes through the introduction of 151 modern Trains.</p>
<p>Bharat Heavy Electricals (BHEL) and Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) are in talks to partner up and run private trains through a special purpose vehicle (SPV) that the two public sector undertakings (PSUs) are planning to form, sources <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/economy-policy/irctc-and-bhel-in-talks-for-a-partnership-to-run-private-trains-121080300036_1.html" target="_blank">told </a><em>Business Standard</em>.</p>.<p>IRCTC will put in bids for routes and the companies will run passenger trains on these routes through the SPV. </p>.<p>"BHEL will be putting in the money required for private rail service, while IRCTC is going to focus on operational requirements. IRCTC’s business model has not been capital expenditure-focussed. It has built only operational enhancements," an official told the publication.</p>.<p>Bids for a public-private partnership (PPPs) in passenger train operations were opened last month and according to a statement from the government, bids have come in for 29 pairs of trains with around 40 modern rakes, entailing an investment of around Rs 7,200 crore. </p>.<p>Several top companies including L&T, GMR and Welspun were in the race to participate in the Request for Proposal (RFP) stage to operate private passenger train services in November last year.</p>.<p>Out of 120 applications from 16 firms at the Request for Qualification (RFQ) stage, 102 applications were found eligible for the RFP stage, the Ministry of Railways said.</p>.<p>The Railways invited bids from private firms to operate passenger train services in over 12 clusters comprising more than 150 origin-destination pair of routes through the introduction of 151 modern Trains.</p>