The Railways will open the financial bids to procure trainsets on December 21. The five bidders who have qualified for the project are Alstom-BEML, CAF-Bombardier, Hitachi-Ansaldo, Kawasaki-Toshiba-BHEL and Siemens. The trainsets are proposed to be used for introduction of Rajdhani/Shatabdi type of services.

After awarding locomotive projects to Alstom and GE recently, the Railways has kick-started the process to procure 17 trainsets, comprising 316 railcars. Trainsets are like Metro coaches with distributive power.

The financial bid will be opened on December 21, said Navin Tandon, Member-Electrical, Railway Board.

The Railways plans to buy two types of trainsets — one comprising 20 rail cars with Sleeper (AC-1, 2 and 3-tier) and16 with Chair Cars. The first two prototypes will be supplied by the selected company after two years of the appointed date, while the supply will continue for five years thereafter. Also, the company will have to set up a trainset depot in Ghaziabad and maintain the trainsets for seven years before transferring the facility to the Indian Railways.

Bengal coach factory

In a related move, the Railways has also started a bidding process to set up coach factory in Kachrapara in West Bengal through a joint venture model. The project is expected to cost ₹860 crore, with the Railways putting in 26 per cent of equity (limited to ₹60-80 crore). The facility will manufacture 500 electrical multiple units every year.

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