Voestalpine Wins Patna Metro’s Turnouts & Crossovers Contract PT-4R

February 9, 2024 Update: DMRC has issued contract LOA to Voestalpine VAE VKN India with a value of Rs. 37,58,37,080.00

January 25, 2024 Original Post: Voestalpine VAE VKN India on Monday was declared as the lowest bidder by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for supplying UIC-60 turnouts and scissor crossovers for 30.91 km Patna Metro Phase 1 project.

The turnouts and crossovers from this contract (Package PT-4R) will allow Patna Metro’s trains (rolling stock) to guide from one track line to another. Their exact placement hasn’t been revealed, but I expect them to come up at terminals and interchanges stations of New ISBT, Khemni Chak, Patna Railway Station and Danapur Cantonment, with possibly more sprinkled in between.

Package PT-4R is a retender of PT-4, which received two bids in April 2021 from Voestalpine and Vossloh Cogifer. These two firms are typically the only bidders for such specialized track work that requires high precision. That tender was cancelled in March 2022 after the bid validity period expired and both bidders didn’t consent to its extension.

DMRC re-invited bids in July 2023 with a Rs. 35.53 crore estimate and 3 year deadline. Technical bids were opened in September 2023 to reveal the same two bidders as last time.

Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Voestalpine VAE VKN India	37.58
Vossloh Cogifer	40.23

DMRC’s Brief Scope: Design, manufacturing & supply of UIC-60 Turnouts & Scissor Crossover for Patna Metro Rail Project of PMRCL

Voestalpine’s bid was marginally higher (5.76%) than DMRC’s estimate, so a contract should be awarded in the coming weeks without a long financial bid evaluation period or back and forth negotiations.

Interestingly all 3 track-related packages tendered-out so far for Patna Metro have been retendered. Here’s the status of each:

Package & Scope	Status
PT-4R: Design, manufacturing & supply of UIC-60 Turnouts & Scissor Crossover	Voestalpine is lowest bidder (this post!)
PT-7R: Manufacturing & Supply of 1200 MT 90 UTS, UIC 60, 13 m, Class A 880 Grade Rails, IRS-T-12-2009 for New ISBT Patna Depot	Awarded to Steel Authority of India (SAIL)
PT-8R: Standard gauge track work (Ballasted, Embedded and Column lines) at New ISBT Depot	Awarded to S.C. Agarwal

A list of all Patna Metro civil & system tenders and their status / contractors can be viewed here.

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– TMRG