The government on Sunday introduced new rules for the procurement of equipment for metro rail projects. The government stipulated that a minimum of 75% of tendered quantity of metro cars to be manufactured in India, with progressive indigenisation of content, said the Urban Development Ministry in a statement. The government said that is part of the government's efforts for the 'Make in India' initiative and to boost the metro rail systems in India.

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Besides metro cars, the rule also stipulates that a minimum of 25% of critical equipment and sub-systems or spares have to be manufactured in India. There will also be a standardising of technical parameters for rolling stock (metro coaches) and signaling equipment, the Ministry said.

These new rules for metro for metros have been approved by the Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu and have been circulated to all metro companies on Friday, making them effective immediately.

“These initiatives will incentivise setting up manufacturing facilities in the country by increasing the volumes of procurement of rolling stock and all kinds of equipment by removing variations in the present technical norms for rolling stock and signaling equipment. This will in turn result in reduction of cost through economies of scale,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry has stipulated the following mandatory conditions to be incorporated in Tender Documents:

1.Minimum 75% of the tendered quantity of metro cars shall be manufactured indigenously with progressive indigenisation of content, for which the contractor may either establish independent manufacturing facility in India or partner with Indian manufacturers, if the procurement is more than 100 cars.

2.To facilitate ease in maintenance through easy availability of spares beyond the warranty period, an identified list of critical equipment and sub-systems shall be included in the Tender Document for ensuring indigenous manufacturing of a minimum of 25% of such equipment, either by Original Equipment Manufacturers themselves by establishing a wholly owned subsidiary in India or through Indian manufacturers.

3. Requirement of metro cars at State level shall be clubbed to enable applicability of local procurement norms.

4.To develop in-house expertise on long term basis, metro companies with large size fleet to undertake in-house maintenance.

A total number of 1,912 metro coaches are currently operational in the country with another 1,420 under procurement. Over the next three years more than 1,600 metro cars would be required. Each metro coach is estimated to cost about Rs 10 crore.

“The Ministry has concluded the long pending standaridisation of norms for rolling stock and signaling equipment applicable to over 90% of the present imports. Further, to promote indigenous manufacturing, the Ministry has stipulated procurement of 9 types of signaling equipment from within the country. Metro companies have also been directed to develop maximum possible local competence so that knowhow and technical support is available within the country. Indian companies have to be associated with production of a wide range of signaling and train control project equipment,” it said.

Indigenization of several metro functions has also been prescribed. These relate to communication systems, managing operational disturbances, time table preparation, fault reporting, control traction power, maintenance, infrastructure supervision, rolling stock management etc.

Presently, metros are operating in 7 cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Chennai with a total route length of 326 kms. Metro projects with a total route length of 546 kms are under construction in 11 cities and projects with a total route length of 903 kms in 13 cities are under consideration.