The Ministry of Railways on Friday said it has cancelled the tender for manufacturing for 44 sets of semi-high speed ‘Vande Bharat’ train set, adding that a new tender will be issued to meet the revised 'Make in India' guidelines.
“Tender for manufacturing of 44 sets of semi high speed train set (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order,” it said in a statement.
Last month, six bidders had submitted financial bids for a global tender by Railways for the Vande Bharat trains, earlier known as Train 18, including CRRC Pioneer Electric, in which China’s CRRC is a joint partner.
The move comes amid renewed focus on ‘Make in India’, particularly as the anti-China sentiment strengthens in the country due to ongoing tension at the border. Recently, the Indian Railways had also terminated a ₹471 crore signalling contract given to a Chinese firm citing “poor progress”.
As per the company’s website, CRRC Pioneer Electric is a joint venture between CRRC Yongji Electric Co. Ltd -- a core subsidiary of state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation, and India’s Pioneer Fil-Med Pvt ltd, set up in 2015.
The other bidders for the project, whose size is estimated to be about Rs 1,500 crore for procuring electric traction kits or propulsion systems for the 44 train sets, were Indian PSU Bharat Heavy Electricals, Hyderabad-based Medha Group, Himachal Pradesh-based Electrowaves Electronic Pvt Ltd, Powernetics Equipments Pvt Ltd and Bharat Industries.
The production of Vande Bharat trains has already been mired in controversy and has been facing delays. The cancelled tender was the third tender floated for these trains.
