Railways floats tender for trains with speed of 200 kmph

The Railway Ministry has floated a tender to procure a set of 100 Vande Bharat trains with a maximum design speed of 200 kmph. The government has taken this decision keeping in mind future development and wants to introduce more semi-high-speed trains in the next few years. As per the tender document, these 100 trains will have articulated bogie, aluminium body and sleeper facilities. According to the officials, the life of each such aluminium body coach is estimated at around 35 years, therefore maximum design speed has been increased from 160 kmph to 200 kmph to meet future needs as rail tracks will also be upgraded. According to the experts, there would be few bidders who would opt for aluminium in place of stainless steel, which is now being used in the manufacturing of such trains as the cost of an aluminium body would be significantly higher than the steel body whereas obtaining the material will also take longer.