The Railway Ministry yesterday invited qualification proposals from private entities to run trains over 109 pairs of routes by introducing 151 modern trains.

The Ministry said that this would translate into private sector investment of about Rs 30,000 crore.

The 109 original destination pairs of routes have been formed into 12 clusters across the rail network and each train shall have a minimum of 16 coaches.

This news has spurred the ‘Railway’ stocks on the bourses. Titagarh Wagons hitting the 5% UC at Rs.36.05 the moment is opened for trading; Cimmco hit its 10% UC at Rs.18.70; Texmaco Rail rose 18% to Rs.30.70 and IRCTC rose over 7% to Rs.1462.80. Infact Timken India, which makes bearings for the Indian Railways is among the top five gainers on the BSE and it rose 12% to Rs.1080.45.