Pakistan Railways (PR) has decided to procure 230 long-distance passenger coaches, 800 high capacity wagons and 20 brake vans to meet increasing demand and generate revenue after the launch of new trains. Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed recently announced that domestic manufacturing of passenger coaches will be started next year, while local production of locomotives will also be started in the next phase.
Official sources revealed to Business Recorder that the railways wants to engage international manufacturers/authorised representative of the manufacturers for the supply of 230 long-distance passenger coaches, 800 high capacity wagons and 20 brake vans through international supplier while keeping the standards through international best practices.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led government has introduced 20 new trains so far due to which the demands for coaches and wagons has increased. The 230 long-distance passenger coaches would include 80 economy-class coaches, 80 AC coaches, 30 parlour cars, 20 luggage vans and 20 brake vehicles. Officials said that a worldwide tender was launched on January 21 and will be opened until March 7.
The bid documents would be acceptable if having bid bond/guarantee/ earnest money of $1.50 million or equivalent Pak rupees from a Pakistani scheduled bank or a foreign bank operating in Pakistan which is acceptable for the Pakistan Railways. Earnest Money Bond of the value lesser than the required amount will not be entertained.
The tenderer must furnish with the tender a "warranty certificate" which must be as: "The contractor explicitly states in the tender that he will warrant that the material will be in accordance with the specifications, and that the material/ equipment will be free from all defects in quality and workmanship and will arrange for replacing free of cost any part of the equipment/material which under normal use and maintenance proves defective in quality or workmanship or fails to comply with the performance laid down in the specifications for a period of 24 months from the date of placing in service or 36 months from the date of delivery, whichever is earlier."
The 800 high capacity wagons and 20 brake vans would include 200 covered wagons (40 CBU, 160 CKD), 300 container wagons (230 CKD, 70 CBU), 300 high sided open top wagons (230 CKD, 70 CBU) and 20 bogie brake vans.
The bid must contain bid bond/guarantee/earnest money for an amount of $0.6 million or equivalent Pak rupees from a Pakistani scheduled bank or a foreign bank operating in Pakistan which is acceptable for the Pakistan Railways.
According to documents the Pakistan Railways has proposed Rs 5.118 billion for rolling stock availability projects, including Rs 1.424 billion for locomotives and Rs 3.69 billion for carriage and wagons, under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) for 2019-20.