TRAINSETS FOR INTER CITY TRAVEL

The Railways has invited global players for a Rs 2,500-crore project it has lined up under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious 'Make in India' programme for the procurement and manufacture of 15 train sets which will be used for faster inter-city travel. While the successful bidder will be importing two train sets, the rest would have to be manufactured in the country, said a senior Railway Ministry official. A train set comprises coaches or railway cars where each coach is powered by a dedicated propulsion system. That means there is no locomotive required to haul the train. Introduction of the much-awaited train set project was announced by the Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in his Rail Budget 2015-16. As per the Request for Proposal for the project, while 275 coaches will be manufactured in India, 40 would be imported. Railways wants to use these train sets to boost inter- city connectivity. The Request for Qualification (RFQ) was floated last week for the global manufacturers to join the bidding process. The bid will be opened on August 12 this year for shortlisting the qualified bidders. The RFQ is to be followed by the financial bid and the successful bidder will be awarded the contract by December this year, he said.