New Delhi, August 21 : The Defence Public Sector Undertaking, Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) has received an order from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) worth Rs. 52 crore for indigenous design and development of eight cars.

BEML, having mastered the nuances of metro car manufacturing technology, will thus help to upgrade the existing four-car train formation to six-car train formation, which will increase the passenger capacity from 1,506 to 2,290.

On completion of the project of eight cars successfully, BEML hopes to bag further orders from DMRC.

Meanwhile, BEML has taken initiatives to design and develop low cost metro cars for the first time in the country.

These metro cars will be suitable for the Indian market at a target price much less compared to the present cost, of almost around Rs. five crore, based on imported technology.

The reduction in cost is planned to be achieved through in-house research and development efforts and by using indigenous stainless steel material and other aggregates, which will help the tier II cities to implement the Mass Rapid Transportation System (MRTS) at an affordable cost.

Delhi Metro has become a success story and other cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad are following suit and the tier II cities are also feeling the need for implementing similar system.

ANI