Aatmja Kumari(Intern Journalist): Indian Railways has again invited tenders for the construction of 44 Vande Bharat train sets. On Monday, the statement issued by the railway said that the new tender for semi-high speed trains has focused on the domestic manufacturers. Through this, the government wants to promote the ambitious Make in India project. The move comes nearly a month after the cancellation of the tender to manufacture 44 Vande Bharat train sets.
The Railway Ministry said in a statement that it has invited revised tenders for the semi-high speed 44 Vande Bharat trains, for which a pre-bid meeting will be held on September 29. The ministry said that the tender will open on 17 November 2020. According to Railway Ministry officials, the trainsets will be manufactured at ICF Chennai, RCF Kapurthala, and MCF Rae Bareli. This tender will be completely indigenous. The ministry also said that the tender has been divided into three phases. According to the new tender, the ratio of the use of local goods in the construction of these trains will be at least 75 percent.
Indian Railways has canceled the tender for making high-speed Vande Bharat trains on 22 August. The decision was taken by the Railways because of bidding on behalf of a joint venture of a Chinese company with Indian companies to manufacture these trains.
According to sources, Railways believes that this tender should be given to a domestic company. When the Chinese company appeared in the tender race, the Railways canceled the tender. The cost of this project is around 1500 crores. Now, this tender has been issued under the revised norms of DPIIT. This is the first major tender under the new norms.
The semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train operates on two routes in the country. In February 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the country’s first Vande Bharat train on the New Delhi-Varanasi route. After this, the second Vande Bharat train was run for New Delhi and Katra. The train was flagged off by Home Minister Amit Shah on 3 October 2019.
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