New Delhi (Metro Rail News): Indian railways on Friday decided to cancel the tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains. A fresh tender will be floated next week as per revised public procurement order to prioritise Make in India.
The Ministry of Railways said in a tweet, “Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high-speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. The fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order.”
As per the sources, the tender has been cancelled as a Chinese firm emerged as the only foreign player among the six contenders when the tender was opened last month.
The five other companies which took part in the bidding are state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Bharat Industries, Sangrur, Electrowaves Electronics (P) Ltd, MEDHA Servo Drives Private Limited, Powernetics Equipment India Private Limited. CRRC Limited is a Chinese government company that took part in the global tender process announced by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.
The CRRC has formed a joint venture company, CRRC-Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited, in association with its Indian subsidiary Pioneer Fill Med Private Limited of Gurgaon, and participated in the bidding process.
Earlier, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had objected to the bid placed by a Chinese joint venture company for manufacturing Vande Bharat trains. The traders’ body had written to union railway minister Piyush Goyal, urging him to not allow the bid placed by the CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited.
The first Vande Bharat express was flagged by PM Narendra Modi in Varanasi last year.
