Driverless Trains For Mumbai Metro Soon? BEML Bags Rs 3000 Crore Contract Beating Global Giants

A Bangalore-based engineering company, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has bagged a Rs. 3,015 crore contract to manufacture 378 metro cars for Mumbai Metro, as reported by Financial Express.

“The state-of-art, driver-less trains shall be manufactured indigenously by BEML. Supply of trains will begin from October 2020 and will be completed by December 2022,” a statement from the government said.

BEML, a PSU (Public Sector Undertaking), is Asia’s second largest manufacturer of earth-moving equipment.

The company which will manufacture the coaches at its factory in Bangalore, emerged as the highest bidder, beating out global giants like Alstom, Bombardier and Hyundai Rotem.

Apart from the focus on ease of doing business in the country, NDA government's flagship scheme, Make In India, has played a significant role in Indian companies begetting important orders.

The statement stated, “As a result of the Make in India initiatives, the last two big procurement orders for rolling stock in India, floated on the international competitive bidding model, have gone to Indian companies. This has also resulted in substantial reduction in cost.”

Recently, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority’s (MMRDA) also approved the construction of new metro lines, costing Rs. 17,347 crore. Mumbai Metro, which is expected to be fully operational by 2022, will run for over 250 kilometres. Over 25 per cent of the construction will be underground.