BHEL bids for ₹58,000 cr deal to manufacture, maintain 200 Vande Bharat trains

Currently, the Indian Railways is evaluating technical bids for the contract, while the financial bids will be opened in the next 45 days.

According to the tender document, the successful bidder has to produce a prototype of the sleeper class for Vande Bharat trains within 24 months.BHEL bids for ₹58,000 cr deal to manufacture

As per details, the Railways is targeting to roll out the first sleeper version of Vande Bharat train by the first quarter of 2024. Until now, contracts were awarded for manufacture of 102 Vande Bharat trains which are all chair car.BHEL bids for ₹58,000 cr deal to manufacture

Expectations are making the rounds that the Vande Bharat trains to be a big upgrade from the premium Rajdhani Express service. These sleeper class-version of these trains will be run on the routes to cover overnight rail journey like New Delhi-Patna, New Delhi-Lucknow and others.

Earlier, country’s first and the second Vande Bharat trains as electric multiple units at semi-high speed, were flagged off by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019 on the New Delhi-Varanasi and New Delhi-Katra in J&K routes.

The first VB train was flagged on the New Delhi-Varanasi route and the second one was on New Dehi-Katra route to provide fast rail transportation from the national capital to these pilgrim cities.

Meanwhile, the railway ministry is also working towards exporting these trains by 2026 to cover the international markets of South Africa and European countries.