German, HK firms bag Kolkata train contract

German company Interglob and BCD of Hong Kong have joined hands to introduce levitating trains in Kolkata.

The two companies have bagged a contract to build an ultra fast magnetic travel system in the city from the West Bengal government on build, own, operate & transfer (BOOT) basis entailing an investment of around $ 900 million. The assets, which will be ready in about two years, will revert to the state government at the end of 30 years.

Construction of such a system will begin simultaneously in Kanpur and Lucknow alongwith Kolkata.

In the next stage , the plan is to have this kind of an inter-state travel system between Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The project entails construction of a circular magnetic railway network in the city on guideways (elevated tracks). Apart from passengers, the train will also carry passenger cars, fully loaded trucks and containers. Passengers will have to pay around Rs 1.5 per kilometer.

The Interglob-BCD consortium has already built such a system in Shanghai, China and is in the process of building these systems in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Dubai, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

"The concept of such a train is to allow passengers to travel in air-conditioned comfort at an affordable price," said Rohit Gupta who heads Rohit Associates, Architects and Engineers of Mumbai.

Rohit Associates has been mandated to select qualified Indian contractors. This process is expected to be completed in around a month's time.

It is learnt that the precise equity structure for funding this project is being worked out. The maximum intra-city speed of the train that is possible is around 200 km per hour.