French rolling stock major Alstom and Hyderabad-based Medha Servo Drives participated in the bidding process to make 100 aluminium Vande Bharat train sets. According to industry experts, the cost of building 100 aluminium Vande Bharat trains is likely to be around Rs 30,000 crore.These will be the first aluminium train sets to be used by the Indian Railways.
The technical bids were opened on Thursday and financial bids are expected to be invited soon. “This will usher in a new era of travel in India with lighter and more energy efficient aluminium trains will be coming. Pune metro and Gurgaon light rail have used aluminium but this is for the first time that Indian Railways will be using it,” said Sudhanshu Mani, former general manager of Chennai-based Integral Coach Factory (ICF).
The government plans to launch at least 75 Vande Bharat trains by August 2023. Indian Railways had seen its highest capital expenditure of Rs 2.6 trillion in the recent Union budget and a considerable amount is likely to go towards its ambitious target of making 500 Vande Bharat trains.
