Train-18 under vigilance scanner, files taken away

Chennai: Manufacture of Train-18, first indigenously manufactured train set of the Indian Railways that was built in the integral coach factory (ICF) in Chennai, may slow down. This is because the purchase of electrical equipment for the train has come under the vigilance cloud.
Sources said vigilance officials from the railway board in New Delhi swooped down on ICF's office on Tuesday and Wednesday and took away the relevant files. Sources said an internal complaint may be the trigger for the vigilance inquiry. Senior railway officials said the role of departmental rivalry in this 'witch-hunting' could not be ruled out, but they declined to come on record due to the issue's sensitivity.
Train-18 is heralded by the Narendra Modi government as a 'Make in India' achievement. The self-propelled train, which can run at a speed of 180kmph-200kmph, was built at a cost of 97 crore with a fully Indian design at the ICF. The parts were imported as well as indigenously manufactured.
The top officials, during a meeting with E Sreedharan in Chennai, while discussing the delay of project, had said that the rule book of Indian Railways was bureaucratic and procurements could be twisted into a vigilance case.
Train-18 is will have new technologies like underslung equipment and distributed power system which was then utilised in the manufacture of EMUs and MEMUs churned out by ICF for suburban and inter-city travel. However, Train-18 had its share of detractors as it was a product of the mechanical department of Indian Railways.
The documents available with TOI show a section of the electrical department of Indian Railways tried to delay the induction of Train-18 by insisting on tests despite having proper approvals.
The railway board's directive to create a vertical for rolling stock (for coaches and wagons) and another for traction by dissolving the traditional members for mechanical and electrical departments had caused much heartburn as train sets like EMU, MEMU and Train-18 were given to the rolling stock member instead of electrical department.