Several global technology giants are queuing up at Rail Bhawan to participate in the bidding process of two loco factories, coming up through public-private partnership mode in Bihar at the cost of R3,300 crore.
International players such as GE, EMD, Alstom, Bombardier, Siemens among others are expected to apply for the project, a railway official said.
Railways recently issued a RFQ (request for qualification) to build an electric locomotive factory at Madhepura and a diesel locomotive factory at Marhowra.
Earlier this month, the Cabinet had given approval to the railways to start the bidding process afresh.
The Cabinet gave its approval for the same four years ago after which firms such as GE and EMD were shortlisted for the diesel loco project and Bombardier, Siemens and GE were shortlisted bidders for the electric factory.
But the process couldn?t move further as issues cropped up between the railways and private players over technology transfer, assured off-take of locomotives (a demand of private players), duration of maintenance of locos by the companies and land transfer. There were also allegations of favoring particular private players.
There were also serious disagreements between the railway ministry and the Planning Commission over changes the ministry sought to make to the bid documents that had been approved by the Cabinet in 2009.
The two factories will be set up in joint venture (JV) with locomotive manufacturers to be selected through a two-stage international competitive bidding (ICB) process. The bids will be finalised within three months. The diesel factory and electric unit entail an investment of R2,052 crore and R1,293 crore, respectively.