Moving ahead with the ambitious Sleeper Vande Bharat train project, Russian rolling-stock major TMH on Monday deposited the Rs 200 crore as performance bank guarantee (PBG).
Now the Indian Railways will sign a Manufacturing cum Maintenance Agreement with TMH as Technology partner for manufacturing of 120 Vande Bharat trains with Sleeper coaches.
Earlier, the shareholder agreement for the Joint Venture comprising TMH, Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL) and Locomotive Electric Systems was signed for the manufacture of Sleeper class Vande Bharat trains.
According to the shareholding pattern, TMH subsidiary-Metrowagonmash has 70 per cent, RVNL has 25 per cent and Locomotive Electronic Systems (LES), a Russian equipment supplier, has 5 per cent shares in the joint venture.
Though BEML is producing the first Sleeper Vande Bharat trainset for ICF, the Russian major TMH is free to design its own Sleeper design.
The agreement for 120 trains entails creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) ‘Kinet Railway Solutions Limited’ — which will manufacture, supply and maintain Vande Bharat trainsets operated by Indian Railways.
Ending the days of uncertainty and speculations in July, RVNL, the Railways PSU, has agreed to be junior partner as per original agreement and came on the board to join hands with the Russian rolling stock company TMH for going ahead with the Rs 35,000 crore Vande Bharat project.
The newly formed SPV will be manufacturing and supplying 120 Vande Bharat-electric passenger sleeper-train sets within the stipulated time frame and will also be running maintenance services of the train sets for 35 years.
The Railways has awarded a contract for manufacturing of 200 Sleeper Vande Bharat trains out of which TMH-RVNL will make 120 and Titagarh-BEML to make 80 such trains.
Currently the Vande Bharat trains with seating facilities are being produced at ICF. There will be no Vande Bharat trains with seating facility after 75 of such trains.
ICF had given the order for manufacturing of 10 Vande Bharat trains with sleeper facilities to the state-owned BEML.
However, the Railways maintain that the design for Sleeper Vande Bharat finalised by BEML will not be binding for the TMH-RVNL consortium. They can have their own design if they want. But these designs are to be approved by the RDSO.
The Vande Bharat sleeper train is expected to be of superior quality as compared to Rajdhani trains in terms of features, average speed, and maintenance.
According to the Railways, the new sleeper variant of the Vande Bharat Express, promising faster and more comfortable overnight travel for passengers.
The consortium of TMH-RVNL would manufacture 120 Vande Bharat trains at the railway facilities at Latur.
Promising a bright future for Indian travelers, the ambitious Vande Bharat project is expected to transform overnight travel experiences for passengers.