Railways to ask for private bids for manufacturing modern coaches

Indian Railways will be inviting financial bids worth over Rs 20,000 crore at the Kanchrapara rail factory in West Bengal this month. The bids would be for manufacturing around 5,000 AC and non-AC coaches equipped with modern facilities, which would be speedier than the existing ones.

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The public transporter aims to get 500 Electric Multiple Unit and Mainline Electric Multiple Unit coaches per year so that local and mainline train services can be made faster and comfortable.

These new coaches would have automatic doors, forced ventilation system, bio-toilets, regenerative braking system and better interior designs, and would be made of stainless steel.

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"We will issue the request for proposal (RFP) this month for the Kanchrapara coach factory in Bengal," said a senior Railway Ministry official.

By inviting financial bids, railways would make sure that only the vendors that would be meeting the organisation's needs apply, and it would also be easier to compare the proposals.