Railways has said that the new tender document for 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains will include provision for more than 50 percent local components. Addressing a virtual press conference yesterday, Railway Board chairman VK Yadav said, the new tender document will include provision for local components of more than 50 in line with the government’s Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiative. Earlier on Friday, Railways had cancelled the tender for manufacturing 44 Vande Bharat Express trains, which was floated last year. Mr Yadav said, while evaluating the technical bids of tenders, the tender committee had noticed that some of the details of financial offers have been revealed in the technical bids. To maintain the complete transparency, the tender committee has recommended canceling this tender and inviting fresh tenders, he said. While cancelling the tender, Railway Ministry had said that the fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement order, which gives preference to Make in India. The fresh tender will have provision to manufacture the train sets at all three production units – ICF Chennai, Rail Coach Factory Kapurthala and Modern Coach Factory Raebareli. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the maiden run of a Vande Bharat train on the New Delhi-Varanasi route on February 15, 2019. The second such train service between New Delhi and Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Katra was flagged off by home minister Amit Shah on October 3, 2019.
