BEML Wins Bangalore Metro’s 72 Coach Rolling Stock Contract 6RS-DM

BEML Ltd. was today declared as the lowest bidder among 3 firms to manufacture and supply 72 new coaches for the 73.92 km Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project.

These coaches of contract 6RS-DM are intended to be deployed exclusively on the 19.143 km Yellow Line (Reach 5) which will connect RV Road – Bommasandra via 16 stations. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) plans to run them as 12 train-sets in a 6-car configuration out of Hebbagodi Depot.

6RS-DM is a back-up contract to 4RS-DM for 216 coaches which was awarded to CRRC in December 2019. CRRC failed to setup a local plant (ground breaking ceremony was conducted twice) and finally entered into an agreement with Titagarh Wagons in 2022 to locally manufacture 204 coaches, with the rest 12 coming from China.

With that contract embroiled in a legal battle, BMRCL invited tenders for this new contract in April 2022 with an unknown estimate and 243 week (4.66 year) deadline. Technical bids were opened in July 2022 to reveal 3 bidders. Titagarh Wagons was disqualified during technical bid evaluation.

Financial Bid Values

Note: Bids were submitted in different combinations of INR + EURO + USD + JPY. Below I’ve shown the approximate INR equivalent and cost per coach in parenthesis.

Firm	Total Bid (Per Coach)
BEML	Rs. 734 cr (10.2 cr)
Alstom Transport India	Rs. 1029 cr (14.2 cr)
Titagarh Wagons	Disqualified

Brief Scope: Design, Manufacture, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of 72 Nos. of Standard Gauge Metro Cars and Training of Personnel under Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited Project Phase -2

BMRCL’s estimate and intentions are unknown to me, but I do know they are in no hurry to award this contract, perhaps due to CRRC’s assurances, otherwise they wouldn’t have taken 11 months to complete technical bid evaluation and open financial bids.

The award of this 72 coach contract really depends on if CRRC and Titagarh are able to start supplying 216 coaches per their revised delivery agreement timeline, which prescribes delivery of the first two train-sets of 6 coaches from China in August 2023.

BMRCL isn’t flying blind. They are being advised by TUV India on the progress of those 216 coaches through a Rs. 2.66 crore consultancy contract, awarded in August 2022, to inspect manufacturing activities and witness factory acceptance tests. That said, we’ll have a definitive answer about the future of this contract in the next 2-4 months.

With this development, here’s a recap of Bangalore Metro Phase 2, Phase 2 A and Phase 2B‘s rolling stock contracts:

Contract	Status
4RS-DM: 216 coaches for Green, Purple & Yellow lines	Awarded to CRRC (deliveries haven’t started)
5RS-DM: 318 coaches for Pink & Blue lines	BEML is lowest bidder (LOA hasn’t been issued)
6RS-DM: 72 coaches for Yellow Line	BEML is lowest bidder (this post!)

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– TMRG