A large new tender for Kavach has been floated.
Provision of Kavach in Nalwar - Guntakal - Yerraguntla - Renigunta Section of Guntakal Division in South Central Railway
Nalwar Renigunta is around 500 KM,
Attaching the tender file:
viewNitPdf_4660921.pdf (49.1 KB)
Discl: Invested in HBL and Kernex. Traded in last 10 days.
Hello Anant Sir,
Thanks for the update.
The document mentions that the Advertised value is Rs. 90 cr which seems it would be for lesser km than the 500 km distance between Nalwar Renigunta or the scope of work would be different.
In government tenders, estimated tender value usually doesn’t represent the final cost of the project. One guess is the EMD amount is a percent of this and hence you keep it low.
That makes sense.
Maybe this is just the EPC part of the project as Rs. 90 cr is approx 36% of 250 km (assuming Rs. 50 lakh per km- which might have increased). So, the balance would be for the equipment suppliers.
Also, would it be possible to share the source of this tender news?
Disc: Invested in HBL and Kernex
All railway tenders are published on ireps. There is one more tender that came out today
The distance is around 400 km.
There is one more Kavach tender and it looks like pretty big for installation of Kavach across locos.
The tender also mentions the total no. of sets required of this communication equipment along with Kavach:
The total no of sets required is 10000. If my understanding is correct this can be huge.
viewNitPdf_4669764.pdf (86.2 KB)
Dear Anant Sir,
Very good information.
As per my understanding, to install the Loco TCAS in 10,000 locos by Railways (As per your consensus) it may cost Rs.7000cr.
A simple math to come to this estimate;
One loco TCAS unit costs about 70lakh and 10,000 units costs about 7000cr.
It’s a decent opportunity but who will win this??
Some new players already got the approvals like G.G.Trnocis (it’s major stake with CGPOWER). RailTel and Siemens are under trails and very soon they will also added in the list.
Needs a little more clarification regarding the tender??
With thanks
There is a bidding process involved price per loco by some estimates can be 50-70 lacs. Generally in such large tenders L1/L2/L3 all get some portion of tender and L2/L3 are asked to meet L1 pricing. Not sure about developmental vendors but Railways do tend to give a small portion of tenders to developmental vendors as well to help them grow. Some of the Indian vendors who have been working on Kavach for past 2/3 years and have shown some capabilities during trials might get small portions but the newly registered developmental vendors I have my doubts.
As far as Siemens and other international vendors are considered their TCAS pricing was 3x to 4x higher when compared with Indian vendors I am not sure how they can bring it down.
Also do understand I too have limited understanding of how it works but I have just put down based on how I have seen other large Rly tenders.
The document of 10,000 sets tender mentions that a developmental order of Max 20% will be given to ‘Sources appearing in RDSO Vendor Directory for KAVACH SYSTEM Version 4.0 with conditional approval and who have obtained Technical Clearance for Field Trials from RDSO on the date of opening of tender’.
It also mentions CLW reserves the right to procure entire or bulk quantity (min 80% of Net procurable Quantity) from ‘sources appearing in RDSO Vendor Directory for the supply of Version 4.0 of KAVACH SYSTEM or who have supplied or installed and commissioned Loco Kavach of minimum 10 nos. as per Version 3.2 as certified by RDSO’, on the date of tender opening.
Superb Karan. S0 a minimum of 8000 sets from the current vendors like Medha/HBL/Kernex and a maximum of 2000 sets from developmental vendors.
The railway ministry has also approved the installation of Kavach on 10,000 locomotives in another two years. After that, the remaining 10,000 locomotives will be taken up in a phased manner,” Vaishnaw said.
Additionally, the ministry plans to invite tenders for installing Kavach on the 3,300-km Mumbai-Chennai and Chennai-Kolkata routes, as well as for approximately 5,000 km of all-automatic signalling sections. The tender process is expected to conclude within a couple of months, with installation set to begin in October 2024
Vaishnaw highlighted that the installation capacity has increased from 1,000 km annually to 4,000 km, enabling Kavach to be implemented on the Mumbai-Chennai and Chennai-Kolkata routes, as well as on all automatic signalling sections, within three years. With the addition of two more companies, the annual installation capacity will rise to about 5,500 km.
“With the current installation capacity, Kavach will become operational on the Mumbai-Chennai and Chennai-Kolkata route as well as all automatic signalling sections in another three years,” the railway minister said.
Two more tenders are out:
This one is around 320 KM Dholpur - Bina
This one is around 350 KM Duvvada-Vijaywada
Capturig all tenders here:
| Section | KM (approx) |
|---|---|
| BHUTESHWAR (INCL) - DHOLPUR | 109 |
| Bina- Itarsi- Jujharpur | 230 |
| MAS-GDR, MAS-AJJ, AJJ-RU | 271 |
| Nalwar - Guntakal - Yerraguntla - Renigunta | 650 |
| Dholpur - Bina | 320 |
| Duvvada-Vijaywada | 350 |
| Arakkonam (AJJ Jn)-Jolarpettai(JTJ Jn) | 150 |
| Nagpur Station Kavach Equipment | |
| Solapur - Sainthia (Howrah) | |
| Bhusaval - Sainthia (Howrah) | |
| Pune- Sainthia (Howrah) | |
| BB (Mumbai)-Sainthia (Howrah) | |
| Viramgam- Rajkot-Okha | 434 |
| AHMEDABAD-PALANPUR SECTION AND AHMEDABAD- SAMAKHIYALI | 402 |
| GD & GQ routes (Kolkata Division) | 688 |
| Shornar to Ernakulam | 107 |
| DUVVADA(DVD) - PALASA(PSA) | 200 |
| Gudur Jn – Vijayawada – (excluding Vijayawada) | 290 |
| (OMLF)Old Malda - (RQJ)… GHY+ MFA KIR KDPR | 702 |
| Low density East Central Railway | 502 |
| Balharshah – Kazipet Bypass – NWBH (excluding Vijayawada) | |
| Nagpur Jharsaguda | 614 |
| Ranital {RLJC) Palasa | |
| Duvvada Palasa | |
| Gudur Vijaywada | 290 |
| (OMLF)Old Malda - (RQJ)… GHY+ MFA KIR KDPR | 702 |
| Low density East Central Railway | 502 |
| Balharshah – Kazipet Bypass – NWBH (excluding Vijayawada) | |
| NW Railways | 1586 |
| GhaziabadMoradabad-Bareilly-Rosa-Sitapur Section | |
| Sitapur city[Ex] -Burhwal, Burhwal Jn.-Gorakhpur Cantt., Manaknagar [Ex]-Lucknow Jn-Malhaur [Ex] & Barabanki [Ex]- Burhwal of Lucknow Division and Gorakhpur Cantt.[Ex] - Goldenganj [Ex) of Varansi Division | 557 |
Along with the above is a 10000 locos tender.
Here is a news article on the KAVACH tendor for 10,000 locos:
Here is an extract from the above article. The paras are on the reason for the delay in the mass roll out of KAVACH.
One major reason for the delay is lack of industrial capacity, Railway Board Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti had said in August 2023. “Kavach is already operational on 1,465 Rkm. Work is in progress for over 3,000 Rkm. But we’re facing critical industrial capacity constraints. We would prefer to roll it out much faster. I appeal to the industry to come forward and build capacity for this ATP system,” Lahoti had said.
The minister, however, said the capacity has improved significantly now, adding that five “domestic companies” have demonstrated their manufacturing capacity of the Kavach system and are ready to participate in the tenders. “Earlier, there were three suppliers; now two more have come forward. There is enough capacity to meet the demand. In the tenders, we will ask these players to submit bids based on their manufacturing capacity. There is no cap. Price discovery would happen naturally,” he said, responding to a question by this paper on the design of the tenders.
So from the statement of Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, it seems like the tenders will be awarded based on competitive bidding. I am assuming L1 (and possibly some share to L2) will be awarded the tenders. Am I right? If someone knows how the tenders are split then please enlighten us.
Found the answer to this question. I downloaded the Final Tender Document of one of the KAVACH tenders - AHMEDABAD-PALANPUR SECTION AND AHMEDABAD- SAMAKHIYALI 402 kms. Brief description of the bidding process and the section on ‘Selection of Bidder’ is pasted below. Long story short 100% of the tender is awarded to the L1 bidder, subject to them getting technically qualified to execute the project.
