Indian Railways follows up on PM Modi's words, floats tender for 58 Vande Bharat coaches

New Delhi: The Indian Railways have floated a tender for 58 rakes of Vande Bharat Express trains, following up on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day announcement that 75 such trains will be launched in 75 weeks to connect different parts of the country.

Currently, only two such Shatabdi-type semi-high speed trains are in operation. These coaches will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, Modern Coach Factory, Rae Bareilly and Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala.

The closing date for the tender is October 20. A pre-bid meeting will be held on September 21 with the cut-off date for submission of pre-bid queries being September 14.

The tender floated on August 28 has invited bids for the design, development, manufacturing, integration, and testing of traction propulsion electrics for the 58 rakes of Vande Bharat trains.

In his speech from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15, PM Narendra Modi had said that in the 75 weeks of "Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav" being celebrated to mark the journey of 75 years of Independence, the railways will launch 75 Vande Bharat trains to connect far-flung areas.

(With agency inputs)