The bidders are Alstom and Siemens plus two consortia: Inabsena, Spain, Ansaldo STS, Italy, and two Indian companies: EMC and BCEPL; and Kec, India, Elecnor, Spain, and Kyosen, Japan.

A civil works contract worth Rs 33bn ($US 528m) for this section has already been awarded to the Tata-Aldisa joint venture.

The World Bank has committed to lend $US 2.7bn for construction of the Eastern DFC. Of this, $US 975m for the first phase was sanctioned in May 2011. The loan for the second phase is expected to be worth $US 1.1bn.