BENGALURU (Metro Rail News): BEML has been named the lowest bidder for providing 72 coaches for the Bengaluru Metro. BEML quoted a price of Rs 10.6 crore per coach, which is lower than the Rs 14.3 crore quoted by Alstom, a French railway company. Titagarh Wagons, another company in the running, did not meet the technical requirements.
The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) had initially invited tenders for these coaches in April 2022, for the Yellow Line that covers 19km of distance from RV Road to Bommasandra. However, the tender opening was delayed due to various reasons. By December 2023, the section from RV Road to Bommasandra is expected to be operational.
BEML also recently won a bid to supply 318 coaches for Phase 2, Phase 2A, and Phase 2B of the Bengaluru Metro. In that tender, BEML quoted the lowest price of Rs 9.9 crore per coach.
BMRCL planned to issue the tender for 72 coaches because it faced a delay in receiving 216 coaches from China’s CRRC Corporation Ltd. The contract for those coaches was awarded in December 2019, but none have been delivered yet. The delay was due to several challenges, such as finding a local manufacturer to meet the local production requirements under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, as well as factors like Covid-19, trade restrictions with China and FDI policies. CRRC collaborated with Titagarh Wagons to produce and supply the coaches.
BMRCL hopes to receive the first two sets of six-coach trains from CRRC by August 2023, and additional train sets from Titagarh Wagons starting in September. Out of the 216 coaches, 126 will be used for the Purple and Green lines, while the remaining 90 will be for the Yellow Line.
BMRCL has not yet decided whether to award the tender to BEML, as CRRC has promised to deliver the first two sets of six-coach trains from China by August 2023. A BMRCL source stated that a final decision will be made after the evaluation process. BMRCL has floated the tender for the 72 coaches as a backup plan due to the delays with CRRC. A final decision on awarding the tender to BEML will be made after the tender evaluation process is completed.
