The Indian Railways has cancelled its tender for manufacturing 44 sets of semi high-speed Vande Bharat Express trains. The Ministry said that a fresh tender will be floated within a week as per the revised public procurement (with a preference to Make in India) order. “Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high-speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order,” the Railways Ministry tweeted on Friday. The Railways, however, did not specify the reason as to why the tender was cancelled. However, according to reports, the decision was taken months after a Chinese joint venture company had emerged as the only foreign bidder for the global tender floated for manufacturing 44 rakes of Vande Bharat trains in July. Reports stated that the tender was scrapped after the Chinese joint venture was shortlisted and would have likely bagged the contract. The Railways’ Integral Coach Factory, based in Chennai, had floated a tender for manufacturing 44 train sets of semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains on July 10. The other bidders included Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), MEDHA Servo drives Private Limited, among others, according to the Ministry.
