Five teams have qualified to bid for the contract to build a rail line through the 405 Freeway’s Sepulveda Pass, officials with the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced late last month.

One team is led by Tutor Perini Corp. of Sylmar, a major local infrastructure contractor. Another is led by Chinese automaker BYD Co. Ltd.

The BYD subsidiary took the additional step of including in its application a specific proposal — building a monorail down the middle of the freeway.

The route would link the south end to an unspecified, existing light rail Metro Expo Line station in West L.A. On the north end it would link to the Van Nuys Metrolink station at 7720 Van Nuys Blvd, according to a study released by Metro last fall. The study recommended either a monorail or a subway along any of four possible routes and put the cost as high as $13.6 billion.

BYD Transit Solutions, is joined by several other companies, including HDR Engineering, Skanska USA Civil West and San Francisco- based architecture firm Gensler.

Tutor Perini is joined by Parsons Construction Group and Plenary Group USA Concessions.