Tender for locomotive manufacturing at Dahod executed transparently: Indian Railways

New Delhi: Indian Railways on Monday said that the tender for manufacturing and maintaining 9,000 horsepower (hp) electric locomotives at Dahod in Gujarat was executed in a transparent manner.

"The tender for manufacturing and maintaining 9,000 hp electric locomotives was executed in a transparent manner. There are two electric locomotive manufacturers globally who have the capability to design and manufacture 9000 hp electric locomotives - Alstom and Siemens - both of them participated in the tender, " the Railways said in a statement.

The national transporter was responding after the Congress on Monday raised questions over the process by which a contract for manufacturing 9,000 horsepower locomotives was awarded to Siemens by the Indian Railways.

Addressing a press conference, Congress leader Brijendra Singh also demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the contract.

In 2022, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced Dahod's resurgence as a railway manufacturing powerhouse, which materialised with the setting up of a world-class facility in partnership with Siemens India.

Rebutting allegations by the Congress, the Railways said that about 89 per cent of the components used in the the current locomotive manufacturing process at Dahod were made in India. The locomotives manufactured at Dahod will be maintained at four depots - Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur, and Pune.

The tender was evaluated by a team of technical and financial experts, in line with the processes that Indian railways has always followed. In technical evaluation, both Alstom and Siemens were equally placed. In the financial bid, the bidder with the lowest price was awarded the contract, the railways said in a statement.

The price discovered through this transparent method is highly competitive. The contract is as per the tender documents. There is no change in the tender conditions, the railways said.

The Congress leader Singh alleged that, “The public has no way of knowing whether companies like Alstom or Bombardier were given a fair opportunity or not. In fact, Alstom already has a proven track record of delivering 12,000 hp locomotives, and has an accepted history of technology sharing."

“The Railways component manufacturing ecosystem is rapidly growing in India. A locomotive is a very complex machine and its components are equally complex. They are manufactured at various locations in India and supplied to various locomotive manufacturers. Very few countries in the world can claim the level of manufacturing components that India has been able to achieve because of the thrust given to manufacturing in the last decade,” the Railways stated.

Singh also raised a question of conflict of interest, citing that Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw had been a vice president of Siemens India in the past.

The Railways spokesperson, however, denied conflict of interest. "The entire tender process was executed by the teams of officers who are technically and financially competent to handle such matters as per rules. There is no question of conflict of interest because the process was followed as per rules and procedures that Indian Railways has always followed. There is no role of the Minister of Railways in the tender evaluation process," the railways said.

"From 2016 onwards, Railway Ministers ceased to approve tenders. All approvals are handled by empowered Railway Board Members and zonal units, ensuring complete institutional transparency, neutrality and delegation of power. Moreover, both Siemens and Alstom have been working with Indian Railways for many decades," the railways said.