Railways Set To Float Rs 24,000 Crore Tender For Procurement Of Third Lot Of 200 Vande Bharat Trains With Sleeper Facilities

Focusing on Vande Bharat, Indian Railways is firming up plans to float a massive tender worth Rs 24,000 crore for manufacturing of 200 such trains with sleeper facilities for overnight journey in March.

Besides the production units at Kapurthala, Chennai and Raebareli, the railways would also offer the newly-built Latur facility for manufacturing 200 Vande Bharat train-sets.

Termed as Version-3, this lot of Vande Bharat trains would be lightweight, energy-efficient and with more modern features with additional passenger amenities.

Until now the railways has opted for 102 Vande Bharat Express trains with seating arrangements only. While the railways has already awarded the contracts to Medha for manufacturing 44 Vande Bharat trains at Integral Coach Facory (ICC), the bidding process for the procurement of 58 more such trains is currently in progress.

The procurement of 400 more Vande Bharat trains was announced in the Union Budget 2022-23.

The bidding documents for 200 Vande Bharat trains with 3,200 coaches are being finalised and slated to be floated in March, said a senior Railway Ministry official.

According to the budget provision, one Vande Bharat train with 16 coaches is estimated to cost Rs 120 crore.

For the Version-3 Vande Bharat Express, bidders would be given options for both aluminium and steel coaches. There would be AC-1, AC-2 and AC-3 classes in the upcoming 200 Vande Bharat service.

But even if the manufacturer opts for steel, it has to be of less weight from the earlier one as specifications are being designed for lighter weight bogie, transformer and motor etc, with the use of new technology, said the official.

The Version-3 Vande Bharat is meant for overnight journeys and is likely to replace Rajdhani and Duronto services in phases.

The current Version-2 Vande Bharat trains are slated to replace the Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi and Intercity Express. Since these Vande Bharat trains have only seating arrangements such as executive class and chair car, these would be pressed for day-long journeys only.