To ensure that companies have higher Make in India component, National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) has designed the contract of Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System in such a manner that the civil contracts have been put in the international funding.

This is because a civil contract despite the funding agencies norms preventing preferential treatment for domestic bidders, sees costs shooting up if imported inputs are used. NCRTC has preferred to procure high-tech items through domestic funding, where bids could be invited with domestic procurement norms, Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director, NCRTC told BusinessLine .

The Delhi-Meerut corridor has a total approved cost of ₹30,274 crore, with $1 billion from ADB, $500 million from New Development Bank, $500 million from Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB).

Push for local products

“The procurement has been designed to keep civil engineering packages – bridges, tracks and tunneling, under the ambit of international funding. So, irrespective of the company winning the contract, the winner has to use local products including cement, steel, aggregates, labourers, as inputs. They may bring in supervision or technology, which given the domestic maturity of industry will not be more than 5-10 per cent in any contract,” Singh said.

“The advanced technology contracts – the rolling stock, signaling and telecommunication contracts have been kept under domestic funding to promote Make in India to the extent possible through domestic preference,” Singh added.

So, track structure – which is one of the most critical components for the semi-high-speed system like RRTS (design speed of 180 kmph) – is being implemented in the country for the first time as track technology capable of supporting high speed rail system is not available in the country, according to NCRTC. These ballastless tracks for RRTS will be indigenously designed in India. Construction of the track slab factory for the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor has begun recently.

Rolling stock contract has been awarded to Bombardier India and all trainsets are being manufactured at its factory at Savli, Gujarat. Savli site will produce the bogies and car bodies, apart from assembling and testing trains; Maneja site will make the propulsion systems and electricals. The Train Control & Management Systems (TCMS) will be delivered from Bombardier’s Vadodara Centre; and the rolling stock is being designed at the Global Engineering and Technology Centre in Hyderabad. Local teams will provide maintenance services for RRTS trainsets.

Indigenous development

Similarly, NCRTC – which plans to have platform screen doors across the network for safety reasons – is working with Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) for indigenous development of PSDs. The indigenously developed PSDs will be used for the upcoming rail projects of India and abroad and minimise the dependence on foreign vendors.

“The RRTS trains will be inter-operable across corridors. For instance, commuting from Ghaziabad to Gurugram won't require passengers inter-changing of trains. RRTS will reduce the travel time from Meerut to the Delhi Airport to about 70 minutes and from Ghaziabad-to-airport in 30 minutes,” according to Singh.

NCRTC, mandated for implementing the RRTS project across the National Capital Region, will be the fastest inter-city public transportation system to be implemented in India.

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