Railway floats Rs 260 billion tender for 200 Vande Bharat trains

As soon as the bidding documents for the lightweight semi-high speed trains are completed, the Railways will launch a tender worth Rs 260 billion for the production of 200 Vande Bharat trains with aluminium coaches.

A first for Indian Railways, the second batch of 100 trains will be outfitted with an articulated bogie and concentrated power car system, while the first lot's 100 trains would have a distributed power system.

A 16-coach Vande Bharat train is expected to cost Rs 1.3 billion and would include aluminium carriages.

A previous tender for 200 Vande Bharat trains with sleeping accommodations had been released by the Railways. The bid is scheduled to go public at the end of August, and the bidder has the option of selecting either steel or aluminium.

However, the bidder has been offered the option of using just aluminium for the 200 remaining Vande Bharat trains, and as a result, the price is expected to increase.

Up to this point, 102 Vande Bharat trains with seating arrangements have been manufactured under contracts issued by Indian Railways. Two of these trains are anticipated to roll out in August of this year, while the Railways plans to deliver 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 23 of next year.