MC Exclusive | Alstom emerges as lowest bidder for 100 aluminium Vande Bharat trains

The Vande Bharat is a semi-high-speed train consisting of 16 self-propelled coaches.

French railway major Alstom has emerged as the lowest bidder for the Rs 30,000-crore tender for manufacturing and maintenance of 100 aluminium body Vande Bharat trains, documents reviewed by Moneycontrol on May 30 show.

The company had a bid of Rs 151 crore per trainset and is looking to manufacture all 100 alluminium Vande Bharat rakes, the documents revealed.

The consortium comprising Swiss railway rolling stock manufacturer Stadler Rail and Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives was the only other player that took part in this tender with a bid of nearly Rs 170 crore per train.

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.

The financial bids for this tender was invited on February 24.

Government officials had anticipated approximately five bids for the current tender, with companies such as Germany-based Siemens in partnership with BEML, Russian Transmashholding, and Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd among those expected to participate.

However, these companies ultimately did not bid, reportedly due to a lack of technical qualifications necessary to meet the bid's requirements.

Bids for these trains were called in July last year and were to open on February 15. But the closing bid date was extended till February 23 as bidder response remained tepid.

As one official noted, only a handful of companies in India possess the necessary coach-building capabilities for steel and aluminum bodies.

"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," Sudhanshu Mani, former general manager of Integral Coach Factory said.

He added that 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.

"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.

Alstom had emerged as the fourth lowest bidder in a tender for 200 steel Vande Bharat trains in February with a bid of 164.54 crore per train.

This is the first time that Alstom will make and supply locomotives as per the indigenously-developed Vande Bharat designs to the Indian Railways.

The aluminium trains will be lighter and more energy efficient than the stainless steel body Vande trains.

As part of the tender, the trains would be maintained at five-six government depots in cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Jodhpur, a government official said.

The lowest bidder (L1) was expected to supply the first prototype train within two years, the official said.

The Indian Railways is targeting to roll out the first sleeper version of Vande Bharat train by the first quarter of 2024. Till now, the railways has awarded contracts for manufacture of 102 chair car Vande Bharat trains and 200 sleeper Vande Bharat trains.

The Vande Bharat is a semi-high-speed train consisting of 16 self-propelled coaches, which eliminate the need for a separate locomotive. This system, known as distributed traction power, has become increasingly popular worldwide for passenger operations. Distributed power enables faster acceleration and deceleration compared to loco-hauled trains, which take longer to reach top speed or gradually slow down.

These trains feature improvements such as enhanced seating, an anti-bacterial system in the air conditioning, and the ability to accelerate to 160 km/h in just 140 seconds.