Indian Railways tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains cancelled

New Delhi: Indian railways on Friday (August 21) decided to cancel the tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains. A fresh tender will be floated next week as per revised public procurement order to prioritise Make in India.

In a tweet, the Railway Ministry said, "Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high-speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. The fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order." 

Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled.

Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order. — Ministry of Railways (@RailMinIndia) August 21, 2020

According to sources, the tender has been cancelled as a Chinese firm emerged as the only foreign player among the six contenders when the tender was opened last month. 

The five other companies which took part in the bidding are state-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Bharat Industries, Sangrur, Electrowaves Electronics (P) Ltd, MEDHA Servo Drives Private Limited, Powernetics Equipment India Private Limited, 
 
CRRC Limited is a Chinese government company that took part in the global tender process announced by Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai.

The CRRC has formed a joint venture company, CRRC-Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited, in association with its Indian subsidiary Pioneer Fill Med Private Limited of Gurgaon, and participated in the bidding process.

Indian Railway, however, did not specify the reason behind the cancellation of the tender.

Earlier, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had objected to the bid placed by a Chinese joint venture company for manufacturing Vande Bharat trains. The traders' body had written to union railway minister Piyush Goyal, urging him to not allow the bid placed by the CRRC Pioneer Electric (India) Private Limited.

On February 15, 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had flagged off the maiden run of a Vande Bharat train on the New Delhi-Varanasi route. 

The second such Vande Bharat train service between New Delhi and Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Katra was flagged off by Home Minister Amit Shah on October 3, 2019.