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Alstom emerges as lowest bidder for 100 aluminum body Vande Bharat Trains
Anushka Khare
Posted on: 2023-05-30 18:05:00
Viewer: 2,696
Comments: 0
Country: India
City: New Delhi
New Delhi, India (Urban Transport News): The national transporter Indian Railways has opened financial bids of Rs 30,000 crore Rolling Stock contract for manufacturing & supply of 100 Aluminium Body light weight Vande Bharat Trains on 30th May 2023.
As per result shared, French multinational company Alstom emerged as the lowest bidder by beating the consortium comprising Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives Private Limited which was the another bidder for this contract package.
The financial position of each bidder is as under:-
- Alstom Transport India: Rs 1,50,99,26,359,00 (Rs 150.99 crore per unit) - L1
- Stadler Rail-Medha Servo Drives JV: Rs 1,69,94,00,000,00 (Rs 169.94 crore per unit) - L2
The winning bidder for the Rs 30,000 crore contract to manufacture and maintain 100 aluminium Vande Bharat trains will receive Rs 13,000 crore upon delivery, with an additional Rs 17,000 crore to be paid over 35 years for maintenance.
Indian Railways had anticipated participation of BEML Ltd, Russian Transmashholding and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) but they did not participate due to a lack of technical qualifications necessary to meet the bid's requirements.
Tender notice for this contract package was issued in July last year and technical bides were expecetd to open on February 15 but the closing date for submission of bids was extended till February 23.
"The tender of 100 distributed power alluminium trains may well be the standard for all future orders of alluminium Vande Bharat Trains. Alstom has quoted a price of Rs 30 crore more per train in this tender when compared to the steel body Vande Trains, we will have to wait and see if that price increase is justified based on higher speed capability of 200 kmph and energy efficiency; it's notable that IR has no tracks for this speed and it is not even planned as of now," commented Sudhanshu Mani, former general manager of Integral Coach Factory, Chennai.
"It is also surprising to see that Alstom had a lower bid to manufacture alluminium Vande Bharat trains when compared to manufacture steel Vande Bharat trains," he added.
"Another interesting point to note is that Alstom made a strategic decision to bid with a lower price point for the alluminium trains when compared to their bid for steeel trains. This means that the company strategically wanted to win this order," Mani said.
In February, Alstom had emerged as the fourth lowest bidder in a tender for 200 steel body sleeper version Vande Bharat trains with a bid of 164.54 crore per train.
The aluminium trains will be lighter and more energy efficient than the stainless steel body Vande trains.
As part of the tender notice, the aluminium body Vande Bharat trains would be maintained at five-six government depots in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Jodhpur. The lowest bidder (L1) is expected to supply the first prototype train within two years.
Anushka Khare
Anushka Khare is a Post Graduate in Journalism from Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalism and Communication, Bhopal (MP). She covers stories and updates from India.
