Two Chinese companies among six bidders for loco factory

Two Chinese companies are among six bidders in the race for setting up a modern electric locomotive factory at Medhepura in Bihar.
CNR Corporation and CSR Corporation, both from China, have submitted qualifying bids for the proposed Rs 1300 crore factory, said a senior Railway Ministry official.
Other four multinationals who have submitted the RFQ (request for quotation) proposals include GE Global, Bombardier, Siemens and Alstom.
Today was the last date for submission of RFQ application.
These are qualifying proposals and Railways has to shortlist the bidders and then invite financial bids for the state-of-the-art factory.
The proposals for the factory and also a diesel locomotive factory at Marhora in Bihar were announced during the then Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in 2008.

Both factories are to be set up in PPP model and there are many changes in the bidding documents over the clauses of transfer of technology and maintenance since the announcement.

In order to give a boost to the infrastructure sector, setting up of these two factories on PPP mode is crucial for the current economy scenario and PMO is also monitoring these projects.
Bidding documents were earlier discharged on November 2011 and Railways called for fresh proposals for the two factories.
Finally the qualifying applications were opened today after many extension of final date, said the official.
However, the applications for the diesel locomotive factory at Marhora will be opened on September 22. The Marhora factory would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,025 crore.

At present, Railways has two locomotive factories in Varanasi (diesel) and Chittaranjan (electric).