Bharat Earth Movers to provide six cars for Namma Metro by December

BENGALURU: Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) is all set to supply the first six Metro cars to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) by December. With the supply of all coaches for two projects of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) set to be completed in a few months, BEML can provide the promised 150 coaches, company sources said. BEML and BMRCL had inked a Rs 1,421 crore deal for intermediate cars (coaches in-between the first and last coaches) on March 27. French company Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) is offering Metro a loan for the project. When the first six cars are supplied to Namma Metro, it hopes to augment two of its present three-coach trains and earmark one coach for women.

Under the contract, the supply of coaches was to begin by June 2018. However, BMRCL announced later that six cars would be ready by December this year with the remainder being supplied in phases from March to December next year. “We are working to get all supplies by December 2018,” BMRCL Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola told Express. Asked about the status of the six cars, a top official at BEML said that the coaches would be built from the spares BMRCL has.

“To complete them quickly, we have already placed orders for electrical items from Japan, pneumatic (operating on gas) items from Germany, furnishing panels from North Korea while cables will be indigenous ones. Light fittings have also been ordered,” said a senior official. These parts are not readily available and need to be specially for Metro cars,” he said. When Express took a tour of the hangars and assembling units at the BEML complex in Thippasandra, work was on to meet the delivery targets for Delhi Metro. In two shifts between 7 am and 11 pm, the staff were manufacturing driverless coaches for Delhi Metro (Rolling Stock-10 project).

“These will be six-car trains which are fully automated. We are readying 315 cars for the project with 50 per cent of the work completed.” Work was also on to complete the second project (RS-13) for Metro which involves 96 cars. “Altogether 72 cars have been dispatched and another 24 will be ready in two months,” an official said. When work for the DMRC is completed, BEML will be able to fully focus on coaches for Namma Metro as well as manufacture 48 cars for Kolkata Metro for a Rs 640-crore project, another official said.

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