Railway Ministry increases localisation content in Vande Bharat train sets to 75%, floats fresh "indigenous" tender

New Delhi: The Indian Railways has floated the revised tender for procurement of 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat train sets on Monday, with at least 75% domestic content mandatory for companies to participate in the tender, a government statement said on Monday.

The train sets will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai, the Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala and the Modern Coach Factory (MCF) in Raebareli. Tentatively, 24 train sets (16 car rakes) have been allotted to ICF and 10 each to MCF and RCF respectively.

“Only Class-I local supplier is eligible to bid in this tender,” the tender document read.

The class-I Local supplier for this tender has been defined as a supplier or service provider, whose goods, services or works offered for procurement, has local content equal to or more than 75%.

Up to five companies are eligible to form a consortium between them to be eligible for bidding in the tender, a railway ministry official said.

Vande Bharat trains are semi high-speed trains designed and developed indigenously by Integral Coach Factory - Chennai. Two trains are already operational on the Delhi-Varanasi and Delhi-Katra routes.

The tender for procurement of 44 Vande Bharat train sets was cancelled in August, as the railway ministry intended to align the procurement process with the revised Make in India guidelines.

Sources in the railway ministry, however, had said that the tender was cancelled to keep a Chinese company from bagging the order. Chinese state-owned company CRRC Corporation had bid for the tender in July.

The pre-bid meeting for what the railway ministry has termed an "indigenous" tender is scheduled for 29th September, with bids opening in November this year.