The French multinational company Alstom has won the bid to supply 75 coaches for the Kochi Metro Rail project.
The financial bid was opened at the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) head office on Monday. The firm quoted Rs.633 crore, while the Hyundai Rotem-BEML joint venture firm quoted Rs.806 crore.
The bid estimate was approximately Rs.856 crore. This works out to Rs.8.43 crore a coach of Alstom and Rs.10.75 crore for Hyundai.
The bid had been retendered at the behest of Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) not withstanding the concerns raised by the DMRC - the executing agency.
Citing that the retender would delay procurement and trial runs, the DMRC wanted to award the contract to Hyundai, the sole bidder for a tender floated by it early this year. “By insisting on retendering, we could save Rs.174 crore. Alstom is supplying coaches for Chennai Metro at around 20 per cent more than its bid for the Kochi project. Bangalore Metro coaches are 30 per cent costlier. This is a major achievement since the order was for 75 coaches (for 25 trains). A formal contract will be finalised in a month. Details like letter of intent and concurrence of French overseas lending agency AFD (which is expected to give Rs.1,500-crore loan for the metro) are awaited,” KMRL sources said.
Alstom has a manufacturing unit at Space City in Tamil Nadu. “The firm has indigenised production to the tune of 85 per cent – which means we get coaches made in India based on European technology,” the sources said.
The manufacturer will have to design, manufacture, supply, test, and commission coaches latest by December 2015 (as compared to August 2015 as was initially scheduled), so that trial runs can begin in early 2016. The bid for the coaches is the biggest single contract of the Rs.5,181-crore Kochi Metro, which is scheduled for commissioning in June 2016.
Passenger capacity As per specifications, each three-coach rake of Kochi Metro must have a ‘crush load’ (maximum coach capacity) of 975 passengers – 136 sitting and 839 standing. The centre coach will have more capacity.
Published - August 12, 2014 02:14 am IST
