Indian Railways has announced that 120 Applications have been received from 15 applicant firms in response to request for qualification (RFQ) for the privatization of passenger train lines operations in 12 Clusters of India. The clusters are classified as Mumbai 1, Mumbai 2, Delhi 1, Delhi 2, Chandigarh, Howarh, Patna, Prayagraj, Secunderabad, Jaipur, Chennai, and Bengaluru. The passenger train service in 12 clusters comprising of 140 Origin Destination pairs of routes will be improved through the introduction of 151 modern Trains to increase the high-quality trains operated on the network. The project is expected to entail private sector investment of about INR 300,000 million (US$ 4.1 billion).

The firms which submitted the qualifications are as follows:

• Megha  Engineering and Infrastructures Limited
• Sainath sales and Services Pvt Ltd
• IRB Infrastructure Developers Limited
• Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation Limited
• GMR Highways Limited
• Welspun Enterprises Limited
• Gateway Rail Freight Limited
• Cube Highways and Infrastructure III Pvt Ltd
• Malempati Power Private Limited
• L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Limited
• RK Associates and Hoteliers Pvt Ltd
• Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarrriles, S.A
• PNC Infratech Ltd
• Arvind Aviation
• BHEL