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Our Bureau

Bangalore, Aug. 19 BEML Ltd on Tuesday said it had come up with a new low-cost, stainless steel metro rail car targeted at the upcoming mass transit projects of Tier II cities.

The cars, priced around Rs 5 crore each, are designed and developed with BEML’s R&D and cost much less than those built using imported technology, a release said. These could be 25-30 per cent lower than the coaches made using imported technology, a source said.

“The reduction in cost is planned to be achieved through in-house R&D and by using stainless steel material of indigenous make and other aggregates. This will help Tier II cities implement their mass rapid transportation systems at an affordable cost,” the BEML release said.

It has received a Rs 52-crore order from DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corp Ltd) for the design and development of eight cars.

DMRC is upgrading its four trains to six-car formations by adding two cars to each of them.

This will increase the passenger capacity from 1,506 to 2,290. “On completion of the eight-car project, BEML hopes to bag further orders from DMRC,” it said.

The military, mining equipment and metro cars PSU that closed fiscal 2008 with a turnover of Rs 3,005 crore, almost a third of it from the metro business, said it was banking on the success of Delhi and similar upcoming projects in Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

BEML’s proposal on using its stainless steel electric multiple units has also found favour with the Indian Railway Board, which is placing a developmental or test order for six rakes, the defence PSU said. It estimated the total requirement of 3,000 cars with a business potential of Rs 5,000 crore in the coming years. The Railways operates a substantial EMU fleet in Kolkata and Delhi too.

More Stories on : Railways | Outlook | Engineering

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