Title - Railway invites new bids for Mumbai elevated rail corridor project

NEW DELHI: In order to have more participation of global players, Railways has invited fresh bids for the Mumbai elevated rail corridor project.

The new request for qualification (RFQ) document for the 60-km-long elevated rail corridor between Churchgate and Virar has been issued with significant changes in terms and conditions.

The project cost has been estimated at Rs.21,500 crore, an increase of Rs.500 crore from the earlier one.

“We have replaced the earlier RFQ document with a new one and the last date of submission is September 2,” said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with the project.

The official said earlier the elevated corridor was supposed to be a broad gauge line but now it has been decided for the standard gauge.

“So those players who could not participate in the bidding earlier can now participate…the aim of the new RFQ documents is to attract more global players in the changed circumstances,” he said.

There are total six bidders, including Reliance Infrastructure, Gammon, L&T, ILFS and GMR, who had already submitted the proposals as per the earlier document.

Though these six players have to again submit the proposals with new documents, they will be exempted from paying the mandatory Rs 10 lakh fee as the cost of the form.

Railways will be signing an agreement with Maharashtra government shortly for execution of the project.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in its recent review meeting of flagship infrastructure projects has asked the Railways to expedite the elevated corridor project.