In a boost to Make in India initiative in the railways sector, the Indian Railways has awarded a Rs 2,211 crore mega tender for procurement of Vande Bharat Express or Train 18 to Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives Pvt. Ltd.
The company will manufacture and supply 44 train sets. The procurement includes five years of comprehensive annual maintenance contract with the supplier.
Though three tenders were floated before for procurement of these trains, all of them got cancelled due to technical reasons. For the current bid, the specifications were prepared after multiple deliberations with the industry. For the first time, the tender required minimum of 75 percent local content requirement of the total value of the tender. This is expected to give a boost to 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' mission..
These trains will be manufactured at three production units of the Indian Railways – 24 rakes at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, 10 rakes at Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala and remaining 10 rakes at Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli.