The Indian Railways has invited bids for manufacturing as many as 200 Vande Bharat trains. So far five players have shown interest in the mega tender worth Rs 26,000 crore.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited has decided to manufacture and maintain as many as 200 Vande Bharat trains, entered the race for a mega Rs58,000 crore contract.

The contract is for 35 years and under it, the bid winner will have 24 months to produce a prototype of the sleeper class of Vande Bharat trains.

BHEL has been designing, engineering, manufacturing, testing, commissioning of products, systems and services for key sectors of the country’s economy, includes electricity, industry, transport, energy, oil, gas and defense.

So far railways have awarded the contract for manufacturing of 102 Vande Bharat train. Vande Bharat is a semi high speed electrical chair car rail, launched in Feb 2019.

BHEL has formed a consortium with Titagarh Wagons, and submitted the bid for the contract.

The bids will open within the next forty-five days. According to the tender document, the winner will have twenty-four months to produce a prototype of the sleeper class of Vande Bharat trains.

The Indian Railways is targeting to roll out the first Vande Bharat with a sleeper class by the first quarter of 2024. Vande Bharat have only chair cars train at present.

Meanwhile, the Rs 8,000 crore deal is divided into two parts: a Rs26,000 crore upfront payment on the delivery of the trains, while the rest Rs32,000 crore will be paid to the bid winner over a period of 35 years, for the maintenance of these trains.

Apart from BHEL, other players in the fray for the bid include French railway major Alstom; Medha-Stadler consortium between Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Media Servo Drives; Siemens along with BEML, and Russian rolling stock manufacturer Transmashholding (TMH) along with an Indian firm.