Delivery of 19 electric buses to Chandigarh Transport Undertaking delayed

On August 11, one electric bus was received by CTU, which was run on a trial basis in Chandigarh for around 20 days

The delivery of 19 electric buses to the Chandigarh Transport Undertaking (CTU) has been delayed by at least 10 days.

The Chandigarh transport department plans on replacing all 358 diesel buses in tricity with electric ones by 2027-2028. (HT FILE PHOTO)

CTU was to receive the buses on September 30. On August 11, one electric bus was received, which was run on a trial basis for around 20 days. “After the trial run, we shared the shortcomings and improvements required by CTU with the manufacturer. These are being incorporated in the new buses,” said a senior transport department official.

The trial bus was to be put under operations for city residents from the first week of September, but wasn’t. “The delay in delivery of the 19 buses will further reschedule the entire bus delivery process. In addition to the 19 buses, the department was to receive 20 more by mid-October. These are also expected to get delayed,” said the official.

The procurement of another 40 electric buses is under process and expected to be received next year.

The UT department of heavy industries under the Union ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises, sanctioned 80 electric buses for Chandigarh under Phase-ll of the FAME India scheme.

For the first lot of 40 buses, an agreement was signed with M/s Ashok Leyland for 10 years. The scope of the contract entails procurement of buses, installation of adequate number of chargers for charging of buses, maintenance and provision of drivers. The fare collection will be done by CTU.