NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): Alstom, the French railway company, and the Medha-Stadler consortium, which includes Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Media Servo Drives, have placed their bids for a contract worth Rs 30,000 crore to manufacture and maintain 100 aluminium Vande Bharat trains for 35 years. The successful bidder will receive Rs 13,000 crore upon delivery, with an additional Rs 17,000 crore paid over 35 years for maintenance. The Indian Railways is currently reviewing technical bids, and the financial bids will be opened in the next 45 days. The tender document requires the winning bidder to create a prototype of the sleeper class Vande Bharat train within 24 months.
Reportedly, although government officials had expected around five bids from companies such as Siemens in partnership with BEML, Russian Transmashholding, and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd, none of them eventually submitted a bid. This was apparently due to their lack of technical qualifications required to meet the bid’s requirements.
The upcoming Vande Bharat trains will feature an aluminium coach with a sleeper facility for the first time in Indian Railways’ history. The 16-coach lightweight trains are designed to achieve a maximum speed of 220 kmph and an operational speed of 200 kmph. In addition to a distributed power system like other Vande Bharat trains, the manufacturer of these 16-coach trains will also be responsible for maintaining them for 35 years
