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2nd LD Writethru: Mexico reveals fresh bid terms for high-speed train

Xinhua, January 15, 2015 Adjust font size:

Mexico relaunched bidding for its first high-speed railway here Wednesday, with preliminary terms published on the Ministry of Communications and Transport ( SCT)'s website.

New bidding for the high-speed rail project linking Mexico City with the industrial hub Queretaro will be opening for 180 days, according to SCT.

Bidders need to submit tenders by July 14 and the winner will be finally announced on July 31, according to the terms.

The Mexican high-speed rail project extends 210 km, designed with a maximum speed of 300 km per hour. Upon completion, the rail will be able to transport 27,000 passengers per day, the document said.

This document does not reveal the exact value of this contract, which was worth 3.7 billion U.S. dollars in previous aborted bidding last year.

But the new terms are similar to the previous ones, requiring the winner to be responsible for the designing and construction of the railway system, providing the high-speed trains, as well as the operation and maintenance in the first five years.

The Chinese-led consortium, including the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC) and several Mexican construction firms, whose original winning bid was revoked last November, will bid for this project again.

CRCC has participated in the construction of dozens of overseas railway construction projects, including the high-speed railway from Ankara to Istanbul in Turkey and China's CRH380 bullet train which has had smooth operation in the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail for more than three years.

The Chinese railway industry has comparative advantages in construction technologies, cost control, and productivity of labor, Zhou Lei, chairman of CRCC International Co., Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary under CRCC, once told Xinhua.

Other international bullet train giants like Bombardier, Siemens, Alstom and Mitsubishi are also expected to participate in the bidding.

To help activate the economy and improve communication, Mexico' s President Enrique Pena Nieto announced at the start of his term in 2012 that his government would promote several rail infrastructure projects. Endite