Indian Railways has cancelled the tender for 100 Vande Bharat Express trains. Railways has cancelled this tender due to high prices. Railways had issued a tender of Rs 30 thousand crore for the construction and maintenance of 100 Vande Bharat Express trains. Alstom India had quoted the lowest price for this project.
Railways wanted to do the deal at Rs 140 crore per train
Olivier Loison, MD of French MNC Alstom India, told Moneycontrol that we had quoted a price of Rs 150.9 crore for making each train. But, the railways wanted to do this deal at Rs 140 crore per train. Apart from Alstom, Swiss company Stadler Rail and Hyderabad’s Medha Servo Drives had also bid for this tender. Now the railways can issue a new tender for this project. The company that won the tender had to make 100 aluminum trains in 7 years. Trains made of aluminum are not only light but also consume less energy.
The previous tender was given at the rate of Rs 120 crore per train
However, till now the railways has not issued any statement on this tender. But, Olivier Loyson has already confirmed. He said that we will continue to support the Government of India. Earlier, the tender for making 200 Vande Bharat Express was given at the rate of Rs 120 crore per train. They were all made of steel. We had quoted the right price from our side. These trains were to be made capable of a speed of 220 km per hour. We were also going to develop a local system of supply chain under the mission of self-reliant India.
Money is given in the name of maintenance for 35 years
Indian Railways was expecting that at least 5 companies would come forward for this tender. However, many companies were eliminated in the technical round. The companies had to provide R&D facility to make prototypes and deliver 5 pairs of trains every year. The company winning the tender would be given Rs 13 thousand crore on delivery of trains and the remaining Rs 17 thousand crore would be given in the name of maintenance for 35 years.
