New Delhi: French railway company Alstom, has emerged as the lowest bidder for the ₹30,000 crore tender for the manufacturing and maintenance of 100 aluminium body Vande Bharat trains.
The bid was for manufacturing of 100 aluminium Vande Bharat rakes. The winning bidder for the ₹30,000 crore contract to manufacture and maintain 100 aluminium Vande Bharat trains will receive ₹13,000 crore on delivery, with an additional ₹17,000 crore to be paid over 35 years for maintenance, according to the report.
Alstom had made a bid of ₹151 crore per train set, which is 11 per cent lower than the second lowest bid of ₹169 crore per train set made by the consortium of Staddler and Medha.
The government had anticipated approximately five bids for the current tender, with companies such as Germany-based Siemens in partnership with BEML, Russian Transmashholding, and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd among those expected to participate. However, these companies did not bid
The government had called in bids for these trains in July last year and were to open on February 15. But the closing bid date was extended till February 23 as the response remained tepid.
The Indian Railways is aiming at rolling out the first Vande Bharat sleeper train by the first quarter of 2024. The Railways has awarded contracts for the manufacture of 102 Vande Bharat chair trains and 200 Vande Bharat sleeper trains, so far.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ambitious plan to run 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 2024, may not be fulfilled after-all. The Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala, failed to deliver even one Vande Bharat train in 2022-23 against a projected target of 32, documents have revealed.
