BHEL Partners With Titagarh Wagons To Bid For 200 Vande Bharat Trains Manufacturing Contract

State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has formed a consortium with Titagarh Wagons and is among five entities which have bid for the mega Rs 58,000 crore contract to manufacture 200 Vande Bharat trains and maintain them for the next 35 years.

Other players in the fray include French railway major Alstom; Medha-Stadler consortium between Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Media Servo Drives; Siemens along with BEML, and Russian rolling stock manufacturer Transmashholding (TMH) along with an Indian firm.

Officials said while Rs 26,000 crore is the upfront payment on the delivery of the trains, Rs 32,000 crore will be paid to the winning bidder over a period of 35 years for the maintenance of these trains.

According to the tender document, the successful bidder has to produce a prototype of the sleeper class for Vande Bharat trains within 24 months.

According to the Railways, two lowest bidders would be selected for awarding the contract to produce 200 Vande Bharat train sets.

It is estimated to cost Rs 130 crore for manufacturing a 16-coach Vande Bharat train. There is a provision for increasing the number of coaches to 20 if the demand grows for a particular section.

While the lowest one would be manufacturing 120 Vande Bharat trains, the second lowest would be producing 80 trains. It would take about 24 months to produce the first prototype after the award of the contract.

Now the tender committee would carry out technical evaluation of each bid which would be followed by opening of the financial bids.

Till now the Railways has awarded a contract for manufacturing of 102 Vande Bharat trains with seating arrangement. However, in the current project, the manufacturers are being given options to make Vande Bharat trains either with seating or sleeper facilities.

After four years of intensive work and planning, the country’s first and the second Vande Bharat trains as electric multiple units at semi-high speed, were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 on the New Delhi-Varanasi and New Delhi-Katra in J&K routes.

The first VB train was flagged on the New Delhi-Varanasi route and the second one was on New Dehi-Katra route to provide fast rail transportation from the national capital to these pilgrim cities.

The railway ministry is also working towards exporting these trains by 2026 to cover the international markets of South Africa and European countries.

(With inputs from PTI)