BHEL-Led Consortium Bags Order For Supplying 80 Vande Bharat Trains

BHEL-Titagarh Wagons Ltd. consortium will manufacture, test, commission, and supply 80 energy-efficient Vande Bharat Trains

The order value comprises supply of trainsets for Rs 9,600 crore and a balance for maintenance for a period of 35 years.

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Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)-led consortium has been awarded the order for 80 Vande Bharat trains at Rs 120 crore per train, by the Ministry of Railways in the mega tender of the Indian Railways. In an exchange filing, BHEL said that in the tender for 200 trains, the BHEL-led consortium emerged as the L2 bidder against stiff competition, and has been awarded a contract for 80 Vande Bharat Trains, valued at more than Rs 23,000 crore.

"The order value comprises supply of trainsets for Rs 9,600 crore and balance for maintenance of the same for a period of 35 years," the filing said. 

BHEL-Titagarh Wagons Ltd. consortium will manufacture, test, commission, and supply 80 energy-efficient Vande Bharat trains at their manufacturing facilities and at Indian Railways’ ICF-Chennai facility. The trains shall have a design/operating speed of 176/160kmph (semi-high speed), the company said. 

"BHEL being one of the major suppliers of rolling stock electrics to Indian railways, its scope will cover supply of propulsion system, i.e., IGBT-based traction converter-inverter, auxiliary converter, train control management system, motors, transformers, and mechanical bogies. The products shall be manufactured at BHEL’s manufacturing facilities at Bengaluru, Bhopal, and Jhansi," BHEL further added. 

TWL will be responsible for the mechanical coach building, the statement said, adding that the final integration, testing, commissioning, and maintenance of the trains shall be jointly done by BHEL and TWL. 

First inaugurated in 2019, Vande Bharat is India's first Semi High-Speed Train. It is a ‘Make in India’ effort of Indian Railways. 

In February, the Ministry of Railways floated the tender for 200 Vande Bharat Trains. There were multiple bidders for the tender, including, French rolling stock giant Alstom, Swiss manufacturer Stadler, Indian company Medha, Consortia of Indian manufacturers BEML and German multinational Siemens, BHEL, and Kolkata-based Titagarh Wagons, and Russia's largest rolling stock manufacturer Transmashholding (TMH) and railway PSU RVNL.