The Indian Railways recently announced seeking bids and proposals from private firms for the running of private passenger trains. Private firms will be given an opportunity to run around 151 private passenger trains on various routes.
The firms will be required to fill up a Project Information Memorandum Document (PIM) released by the national transporter. The PIM is released to help the firms get a better understanding of the proposal.
“No new similar scheduled train will depart the originating station in the same origin-destination route within 60 minutes of the scheduled departure of the concessionaire’s train. However, this restriction shall not apply in case capacity utilization of the concessionaire train is more than 80% in the previous three months,” it said.
The private firms will be in charge of the maintenance of the trains, the salaries, and other monetary look afters.
“Any amount accruing to the concessionaire on account of advertising, branding and naming rights pursuant to the concession agreement,” it said.
“The concessionaire will bring its manpower, tools, and plants as required for undertaking the maintenance obligations,” it further stated.
Moreover, the private firms will be allowed to decide the fare for the services they will be providing. The 151 trains will be running 12 clusters, including Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Prayagraj, Secunderabad, Howrah, Chennai.