The companies who submitted bids comprise Alstom, Bombardier, CAF Signalling, Hitachi STS, Siemens and Thales. IR will select the winner after opening the financial bids next month.
ETCS Level 2 will be installed on four lines as a pilot project comprising: Jhansi - Bina in North Central Zone, Yeraguntla - Renigunta in South Central Zone, Vijaynagaram - Palasa in East Coast Zone, and Nagpur - Budnera in Central Zone.
Depending upon the trial results, IR will decide whether to extend ETCS to other lines. IR was planning to install ETCS Level 2 on its entire 65,000km broad-gauge network at a cost of around Rs 780bn. However, the plan did not find favour with the prime minister’s office due to the high cost and because ETCS is untested in India.
