The railway ministry told Lok Sabha on Wednesday that it has scrapped the bids for running passenger trains by private players.
Only two players -- Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd, ITCTC and Megha Engineering -- had submitted bids.
The railways had reevaluated the bidding process for the Rs 30,000 crore private passenger trains after it failed to get any interest from private sector players for its tender floated last year for the operation of such trains in 12 clusters.
The senior officials told PTI that of the 12 clusters put up for bidding, only three saw any bid at all.
The entire process of inviting tenders for private passenger train operations is being re-evaluated. An official said that the present process bids may or may not be scrapped after the review is complete.
In July last year, the Ministry of Railways rolled out bids for private participation in passenger train operations in twelve clusters across the country.
The plan included 109 origin-destination pairs. The winning bidders were to be given a concession period of 35 years on a revenue basis model.
16 private sector firms showed interest in the project during the Request for Qualification RFQ last year. GMR Highways Ltd, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Ltd, IRCTC IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pte. The major firms that have shown interest in the project were CAF India Private Ltd and Ltd.
This number was significantly reduced in the RFP stage financial bidding with only two bidders coming forward. The bids were submitted by IRCTC and Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Ltd for three clusters, while all other bidders backed out, citing concession rules favouring the Indian Railways.
The lack of a regulator, payment of haulage charges and curbs on route flexibility were some of the factors that kept bidders away from the railways' ambitious plans, according to the officials.
The Indian Railways planned to introduce private trains on its network in phases with the first dozen due to begin running in the financial year 2023 -- 24 and all 151 by 2027.
According to the projections of the Railway Ministry, the transporter was supposed to select the companies that will run private trains by April 2021, the first 12 were expected to start plying by 2023 -- 24, followed by 45 more in FY 2024 -- 25, the next 50 in FY 2025-26 and the last 44 by 2026-27.