Titagarh-BHEL sets Vande Bharat trains' contract value nearly Rs 25,000 cr

The contract value of Vande Bharat trains for Titagarh Wagons Ltd (TWL)-Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) consortium is estimated at Rs 25,000 crore for manufacturing of 80 train sets and maintaining them for the next 35 years, a senior company official said on Thursday.

Russia's CJSC Transmashholding and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (TMH-RVNL) consortium has emerged as the lowest bidder. The second lowest bidder was the consortium of state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Titagarh Wagons.

TWL-BHEL consortium will be given a chance to match the lowest bid to bag a share of the tender.

TMH-RVNL consortium, which has emerged as the lowest bidder, will make 120 train sets, while TWL-BHEL is eligible for 80 train sets. Each train set will have 16 coaches.

"This is a prestigious contract and will be a game changer, we are eligible for manufacturing the 80 train sets, which is worth around Rs 25,000 crore inclusive of maintenance for 35 years. This will help us to change the perception of Titagarh Wagons in the global market as an international passenger train coach builder," TWL vice-chairman & MD Umesh Chaudhary told PTI.

TMH-RVNL had bid aggressively at Rs 120 crore to make a train, while TWL-BHEL's bid value was Rs 139.8 crore to build each train set. The L2 (second lowest)bidder has to match the lowest bid to bag a share of the tender.

"We have not yet received the counteroffer. We will definitely respond to it. We are internally working on it," Chaudhary said.

French railway major Alstom, the Medha-Stadler consortium between the Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Media Servo Drives and Siemens and BEML were the other players in the fray for the tender.

The trains' final assembly must be done at the Railway facilities of Chennai and Latur as per the contract. The costs associated with upgrading the government manufacturing facilities and train set depots will be reimbursed to contractors up to a particular ceiling.

"BHEL is the lead partner, but the scope of work is almost equal. The finer details will have to be worked out based on operational efficiencies of each of us if we get the contract," TWL director (marketing & business development) Prithish Chowdhary said.

TWL was also a bidder for the Bengaluru Metro contract and currently executing an agreement for 102 coaches for Pune Metro.