Bengaluru: K-RIDE floats tender to lease air-conditioned coaches for suburban rail project

BENGALURU:Setting the ball rolling for the long-pending Bengaluru suburban rail project, K-RIDE on Wednesday floated a tender to lease air-conditioned coaches.
Rail Infrastructure Development Company (Karnataka) Limited (K-RIDE), which is implementing the 148-km suburban rail project, is planning to lease rolling stock from private firms instead of purchasing it to reduce the high upfront system procurement cost.
The agency on Wednesday invited a tender for the selection of an entity for design, manufacturing, supply, commissioning, operation and maintenance of rolling stock under the public private partnership (PPP) mode. If it is successful, it will be the first time rolling stock has been inducted under PPP basis on a large scale in the country.
The selected firm will provide 264 coaches within three-five years. The firm will also undertake maintenance of trains and also provide train operators during a period of 35 years. The bidders will have to quote lease charges per train-hour and maintenance charges per train-hour.
“We require a total of 306 coaches, including 10% maintenance reserve and 5% traffic reserve). We expect to receive 10 three-car trains and one six-car train by January 2026. RITES is the project consultant for this rolling stock project under PPP,” said a K-RIDE official. He said they will commence services with three coaches in the beginning and later the number of coaches will be increased to six. “Last year, 18 institutions/banks as well as 12 rolling stock manufacturers participated in the stakeholders conference under PPP basis. We’re expecting a good response for this tender. This will be a unique model in India,” he said.
According to the tender conditions, the number of trains that can be manufactured in the off-shore factory shall not exceed 25% of the total requirement of the trains to be supplied by the lessor. The remaining 75% trains should be manufactured in the country as per the Make In India policy. Keeping in view of China, bidders should follow the Centre’s General Financial Rules which impose tender restrictions on countries which share a land border with India, or matters directly or indirectly related to national security.
Each car will be user-friendly with space for bicycles, wheelchairs, luggage etc. “Generally, the lowest-evaluated bidder shall be the selected bidder. The second-lowest evaluated bidder will be kept in reserve and may, in accordance with the process specified in the RFP, be invited to match the bid submitted by the lowest-evaluated bidder in case such lowest-evaluated bidder withdraws or is not selected for any reason,” the tender document reads.
K-RIDE plans to operate train services for 19 hours a day (5am to midnight). The operational speed will be 32kmph. It will deploy additional trains based on demand, especially during peak hours. The total number of coaches required for four suburban rail corridors are likely to be 396 in 2031 and 564 in 2041. Metro operators in Delhi and Chennai had also explored leasing options of rolling stock but that is yet to take off. In 2008, the railway ministry launched ‘wagon leasing scheme’ to lease rail wagons, mainly freight, like aircraft but it evoked poor response due to stringent conditions.