Railways may scrap first private train operations tender over viability

Rethink driven by poor response to the initiative, with only two bidders

The Indian Railways may end up cancelling the first round of bids they had called for private train operations. According to officials in the know, there is a rethink going on in the Railway Ministry about the viability of these operations after getting just two bidders for the ambitious private train programme.

“The evaluation of these bids is on. As of now, the process is still on,” a Railway Ministry spokesperson told Business Standard.

In July 2020, the Rail Ministry had invited Request for Qualifications for private participation for operation of passenger train services over 109 Origin Destination pairs of