Six firms, including one Indo-Chinese joint venture, in fray to build Vande Bharat trains

Six firms, including a Indian Joint Venture of Chinese rolling stock company CRRC Pioneer, are in the fray to build Vande Bharat Express semi high-speed trains for the Indian Railways.

The companies that have submitted bids for Vande Bharat train sets are: BHEL, New Delhi; Bhatat Industries Sanger; CRRC Pioneer Electric Pvt Limited, Riwari; Electrowaves Electronics Pvt Ltd Parwanoo; Medha Servo Drives Pvt Ltd, Hyderabad and Powernetrics Equipment Pvt Ltd, Navi Mumbai.

CRRC Corporation Limited is a Chinese government owned rolling stock producing company.

The Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai has floated tender for as many as 44 semi-high speed rakes or train sets, which is also called as Vande Bharat Express and bids for it opened on Friday.

The selected companies have to submit financial bid (e-bid) as stipulated in the bid document through online.

Currently, Indian Railways operating two Vande Bharat trains – the first between New Delhi and Varanasi and the second between New Delhi and Katra. Both trains are built by ICF Chennai.

These trains are country's first self-propelled engine-less trains and can run at a maximum permissible speed of 160 kmph. It had hit speeds of 180 kmph during trial runs.

As the Indian Railways plans to build 44 more Vande Bharat, the government floated tender from private players to build the trains with adavanced features under Make In India scheme.

Unlike existing Vande Bharat trains, the proposed semi-high speed trains will have basic units with four coaches, which can be attached to or detached from the train as per requirement Besides, the new trains will have better features and will consume less energy.