Indian Railways cancel tender for 44 Vande Bharat Express trains

Indian Railways on Friday said that it had cancelled a tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains. It said that a fresh tender will be floated within a week which will give preference to the ‘Make in India’ scheme of the government.

The tender, which was floated a year ago, was cancelled after a Chinese joint venture had emerged as the only foreign player among six other contenders. They were supposed to supply electrical equipment and other items for the 44 train sets of 16 coaches each.

“Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order,” the Railway Ministry tweeted.

However, the ministry did not specify any reason behind the cancellation of the tender.

Officials said going by the cost of manufacturing the first Train 18, which was launched last year at an expense of Rs 100 crore, of which Rs 35 crore were for the propulsion system alone, the present tender for 44 such kits would be worth over Rs 1,500 crore.