Govt may float global tenders, invite international players for manufacturing train sets in India: Sources

New Delhi: The government is likely to float global tenders, for manufacturing train sets in India, inviting international players to participate in it, sources told Zee Media.

Sources said that companies from China, Germany and the United States may participate in the bidding process to manufacture train sets.

However, the train sets to be manufactured via global tendering process will lay emphasis on make in India and employment generation. To make the bidding process more attractive, government may insert clause for block orders and long term maintenance for the bidding companies.

The news comes amidst allegations of favouritism in the tendering process of the first train set of Vande Bharat Train (Train 18).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the first Vande Bharat Express on February 15 this year. The first rake of Train 18 was manufactured in a record time of just 18 months at a cost of less than Rs 100 crore.

The manufacturing of Train 18, has been mired in a lot of controversy related to favouritism to a particular domestic countries, violation of safety rules in making of the train, among others.

The Vigilance department is currently probing the matter while the  Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, has scrapped all existing tenders for manufacturing of Train 18 sets.