MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) cancels the bidding process for procuring monorail rakes in which two Chinese companies submit their bids. The MMRDA in talks with three Indian companies for producing the rakes for Mumbai monorail.
The MMRDA wants Make-in-India coaches for monorail because of “Aatmanirbharta’ or ‘self-reliance’ call by PM Narendra Modi.
“We are in talks with Indian manufacturers like Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Titagarh. The latter has also been positive on manufacturing the rolling stock which is quite a breakthrough.” said a senior official from MMRDA
Bengaluru-based BEML is already manufacturing metro rakes for Metro 2A (Dahisar-DN Nagar) and Metro-7 (Dahisar E-Andheri E).
On June 2020, MMRDA confirmed that two responses received for the tender on manufacturing 10 rakes, both from Chinese companies, CRRC corporation Ltd and BYD Co Ltd.
The Chinese firms were continuously asking for revisions in terms and conditions. MMRDA is looking at acquiring 10 additional rakes for 19.5 km corridor since early 2019.