The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Wednesday held a pre-bid meeting ahead of inviting fresh tenders for supplying rolling stocks for the project.
The meeting, in which firms from world over took part, was being held for the interested firms to seek clarifications regarding the design, manufacture, supply, testing and commissioning of coaches etc, official sources. A final picture on the number of firms participating in the bidding process will be available after the tender meeting by DMRC, scheduled to be held on May 5.
A technical bid will follow and finally a financial bid, prior to zeroing in on the coach supplier. Representatives from the Kochi Metro Rail Limited also took part in the meeting, held at New Delhi, they said.
The Rs. 750-crore contract to supply coaches for the metro was retendered on March 10 after only a single Korean firm qualified. Though there were two bidders, Hyundai-Rotem/BMEL-India and Band Changchun Railway Vehicle Co Ltd, the latter was found ineligible.
While DMRC had already fixed 2.90 metres as the coach width, KMRL sought to revise this specification so as to bring in competition.
The move to retender has also caused a delay in the scheduled arrival of coaches by August 2015 and to start trial runs in December.
The two agencies had also differed over the sourcing of power from the third traction and it was finally decided to source power from the third rail laid along metro track.
