The Indian Railways on November 19 said it has completed the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) evaluations for PPP in the Passenger Train Operations project.

Out of 120 applications, 102 were found eligible to participate in the bidding stage.

The companies that have made the cut for the RFP stage include Cube Highways and Infrastructure, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), GMR Highways Limited, L&T, BHEL, Megha Engineering & Infrastructures Ltd, Gateway Rail Freight Limited, CAF India Private Limited, Welspun Enterprises Limited, and IRB Infra, among others.

The routes to be offered to private players have been divided into 12 clusters: Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Delhi (two clusters), Howrah, Jaipur, Mumbai (two clusters), Patna, Prayagraj, and Secunderabad.

Railways said the RFP documents will be made available to the qualified applicants very soon.

The national transporter expects the project to bring in private sector investment of around Rs 30,000 crore.