RITES-led JV Wins Delhi Metro RS-1’s Train Upgrade Contract
RITES – R2P Asia-Pacific – ACT Fiberglass JV on Thursday was declared as the lowest bidder to retrofit and upgrade 22 train-sets of Delhi Metro’s RS-1 rolling stock fleet on the 65.35 km Blue Line (lines 3 & 4).
The coaches included in this retrofit contract are all stabled at the Blue Line’s Najafgarh Depot. They were originally designed, built and supplied as 4 coach train-sets in 2002 by the MRM Consortium comprising of Mitsubishi Corporation, Hyundai Rotem Company and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Over the years, BEML supplied intermediate coaches through 2 contracts (RS-6 & RS-13) to turn them into 6 and 8 coach train-sets.
Metro coaches typically have a lifespan of 35-40 years, so these train-sets having been in service for over 20 years are essentially facing a midlife crisis right now.
Just like 10 other trains across the Red & Blue lines, DMRC for these 22 trains has planned a major overhaul of their saloon, cab interiors, electrical panels, and installation of CCTV cameras, LCD-based digital route map, fire detection system and mobile charging facilities.
DMRC had invited bids for this contract in October 2023 with a Rs. 102.06 crore estimate and 3 year deadline. Technical bids were opened in February 2024 to reveal 4 bidders.
Financial Bid Values
| Firm | Bid (Rs. Crore) |
| RITES – R2P Asia-Pacific – ACT Fiberglass JV | 87.57 |
| Escorts Kubota – Railway Equipment Division JV | 90.62 |
| Lalbaba Industrial Corporation – DTI India Holdings JV | 98.19 |
| Autometers Alliance – DTL Group JV | 134.98 |
DMRC’s Brief Scope: Retrofit Work in RS-1 Trains of DMRC
RITES – R2P Asia-Pacific – ACT Fiberglass JV’s bid of Rs. 87.57 crore was well below DMRC’s estimate of Rs. 102.60 crore, so a contract should be awarded in the coming weeks without a long financial bid evaluation period.
Per RITES’ announcement to the BSE, RITES share is 49% i.e. Rs. 42.91 crore (approx.) including GST. When awarded, this will be DMRC’s second major retrofit contract. Back in September 2022, Escorts – Naledi Rail Engineering JV was awarded a Rs. 46.62 crore contract for 10 train-sets from the same RS-1 fleet based at Shastri Park Depot, Najafgarh Depot and Yamuna Bank Depot.
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– TMRG
Wouldn’t it have been easier to buy new trainsets?
They’ve still got 20 or so years left, so a retrofit is cheaper, faster, and makes more sense vs. getting new ones.
The cost of one new coach with some maintainance component is about 7-8 crore. This refurbishment costs 4 crore a train. Do you spot the difference ?
The design life is 35-40 years and it’s not like the trains are having some major issues, it’s just that after 20 years, some components need repairs, trains need a but of touchup and we are adding some new features like charging points, cctv, lcd displays which we didn’t have back then but do have in newer trains. The trains themselves are just fine and working very reliably
22 eight-car trains make 176 cars. At ₹87 crores, the renovation cost per car is only 0.49 cr. against around ₹10 cr. for a new car. Even double of this amount would be a steal.
Good that they are upgrading things along with coming with new, now if they also upgrade old stations too