44 Vande Bharat trains coming soon! India's fastest train goes 'vocal for local'

The Railways has awarded Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives Pvt. Ltd a Rs 2,211-crore contract for designing and manufacturing propulsion, control and other equipment required for making 44 rakes of Vande Bharat-type train sets, a ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. Earlier in August, the Railways had cancelled the tender for the manufacturing of the 44 rakes of Train 18, which has been re-christened as Vande Bharat Express.

The move came after the Chinese joint venture company CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited emerged as the only foreign bidder among the six contenders for manufacturing the semi-high speed trains. In September, the tender was floated again.

“Indian Railways has awarded the work of design and manufacturing of propulsion, control & other equipment for making 44 rakes (16 car each) of ‘Vande Bharat’ type train sets,” the ministry tweeted.

Indian Railways has awarded the work of design and manufacturing of propulsion, control & other equipments for making 44 rakes (16 car each) of ‘Vande Bharat’ type train sets.

This project will be completed under ‘Make in India’ policy with domestic content of 90 %

— Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) January 21, 2021

This project will be completed under the ‘Make in India’ policy with domestic content of 90 per cent, it added.

“The contract is worth around Rs 2,211 crore and has been awarded to the Medha Servo Drives Pvt. Ltd, Hyderabad,” a spokesperson said.

According to the railway officials, train sets shall be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai; Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, Punjab; and the Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli, Uttar Pradesh.

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