Rs 55,000-crore Vande Bharat sleeper manufacture plans back on track as government okays original design of coaches | India News

NEW DELHI: The issue of four toilets instead of three in each coach of Vande Bharat sleeper trains and a pantry car in every trainset, which had held up the Rs 55,000 crore project, has been resolved, railway minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday. He said they will go with the original design of coaches with three toilets and no pantry car in each train since these are meant for overnight journeys.
Kinet Railway Solutions, the SPV of Russian railway major TMH and Indian Railways’ PSU, RVNL, which has bagged a contract to manufacture 1,920 sleeper coaches or 80 trainsets, had raised concern over the change in design and had sought a higher price. “Since there is no change in the original design, there is no need for revising the cost,” Vaishnaw said.
Sources said the railway board had informed their decision to Kinet Railway Solutions in the last week of December. The production of the first prototype is likely in the next one year. Besides Kinet, the railways has awarded a consortium of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Titagarh Rail Systems (TRS) the contract to manufacture 1,280 coaches or 53 trainsets. Moreover, a contract for supply of 10 Vande Sleeper trains has been awarded to BEML and Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai on nomination basis.
On the issue of concerns regarding procurement of bullet trains from Japan, officials said all issues have been resolved and India will get Shinkansen E5 bullet trains to ply on the Mumbai-Ahmedabad corridor. “We will get the train with the best available technology. Techniques for developing bullet train infrastructure are being indigenised and those will be used in future projects,” an official said.
He added that Japanese counterparts have appreciated the good progress made in India and the technology for launching 40-metre girders for bullet train projects and they will import this from India.