Trial run of Vande Bharat from Katpadi to Chennai Central at Katpadi junction. File
| Photograph Credit score: Venkatachalapathy C
The Indian Railways has cancelled a tender worth ₹30,000 crore given to French engineering company Alstom to fabricate and preserve 100 aluminium-bodied Vande Bharat practice units for the subsequent 35 years. The tender was awarded greater than a 12 months in the past.
Bids for the tender have been referred to as in June 2022 and have been opened in February 2023. Solely two bidders – Alstom India and a consortium of Swiss Firm Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives – efficiently submitted the bids. Whereas Alstom quoted ₹150.9 crore per practice, Medha had quoted ₹169 crore per practice.
“Alstom’s provide for the 100 Aluminium Electrical A number of Models (EMUs) was a really aggressive provide and the bottom when benchmarked in opposition to comparable trains produced globally,” an Alstom spokesperson instructed The Hindu in a written reply to questions.
After the tender panel discovered Alstom’s provide to be steep, Indian Railways requested the corporate to scale back the provide to ₹140 crore, however the firm requested the Railways to settle at ₹145 crore per practice set. “Whereas being the bottom bidder, Alstom labored on Indian Railways’ request to additional optimise its provide… and appears ahead to any new tenders which will come up on this house,” the spokesperson mentioned.
At current, India makes use of steel-bodied practice units. Aluminium-bodied trains are higher as they’re light-weight, energy-efficient and have higher resale worth.
Sudhanshu Mani, former Basic Supervisor of Integral Coach Manufacturing facility and creator of the Vande Bharat practice, mentioned this failed tender is the second unsuccessful try at initiating the manufacture of light-weight aluminium physique trains. “The primary try was made in 2017-18 when ICF floated a Train20 tender for manufacturing 20 such Vande Bharat practice units. However it didn’t materialise,” Mr. Mani mentioned.
With design pace catering to 220 kilometres per hour, the manufacturing of those state-of-the-art aluminium trains requires substantial preliminary funding within the product design. If the tender had materialised, Alstom would have tied up with Indian corporations to arrange a plant to fabricate extrusions and profiles required to make the shell of the practice our bodies. A considerably giant tender would have propelled corporations to spend money on the plant, as main parts develop into indigenous, it might have paved manner for making aluminium practice units cheaper in future, Mr. Mani mentioned.
“It might have been the primary such product for the Indian market and entails the creation of an area provide chain and eco-system to make India utterly self-reliant within the manufacturing of such trains,” the Alstom spokesperson added.
Mr. Mani mentioned by cancelling this tender, “we’re placing the venture to fabricate aluminium-bodied trains again by a number of years”. “It’s a retrograde step. The Indian Railways ought to have negotiated additional and settled at a worth,” he mentioned.
