Context: Indian Railways launched India’s first indigenous semi high speed train ‘Vande Bharat Express’ which was first flagged off in February, 2019 plying on the New Delhi- Varanasi route. Further, to this development, in the budget of 2022-23, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 400 Vande Bharat trains will be developed and manufactured in the upcoming three years: a mix of sleeper cars and chair cars.
Recently, the consortium of Titagarh Rail Systems Limited which is an private manufacture of rail and metro systems and coaches and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited- one of India’s largest engineering manufacturer (Titagarh-BHEL Consortium) emerged as the 2nd Lowest Bidder (L2) for manufacturing and maintenance of Vande Bharat trainsets including up-gradation of the Government manufacturing units & trainset depots.
This order was for sleeper coaches with the following differences between sleeper and chair car coaches:
Sleeper version vs Chair Car version
| Sleeper Version | Chair Car |
| Coaches– The sleeper version will contains 26 air conditioned compartments: 1– First class, 4- Second class and 11 three tier coaches. | Coaches– The AC Chair car contains 8 coaches with 1 executive chair car coach and its configuration is of 3 x 2 seats with 78 passengers. |
| Berths– All berths will be adequately cushioned for a comfortable long journey.While the first class AC coaches shall have cubicles with doors,the AC-2 tier and 3 Tier coach have suitable partitions for privacy, ambience and comfort. | Seats– The executive chair can seat 52 passengers and have special seats with 180 degree rotating, better recycling and snack tables hidden in the arm. |
| Maximum Speed– The train is capable of running speed to 160 kmph from 0 in 140 seconds. | Maximum Speed– The train is also capable of running speed to 160 kmph from 0 in 140 seconds. |
| Automatic Doors– On each side there is automatic indoor and automatic plug types door in all coaches. | Automatic Doors– They also provide automatic door on each side and automatic plug types door in all coaches. |
| Emergency Alarms, exits and CCTV’S– Passengers can contact loco pilot by activating emergency alarm signal,and there are 2 emergency exit per vehicle. Each coach of the train will have an adequate surveillance camera to cover the passenger area and in sleeper train coverage of the entire corridor will be provided | Emergency Alarms and exits– Passengers can contact loco pilot by activating emergency alarm signal,and there are 2 emergency exit per vehicle. Each coach of the train will have an adequate surveillance camera to cover the passenger area. |
As per financial bid opened in March,2023 , the Titagarh -BHEL Consortium was declared L2. The total quantity is 200 Trainsets and as per tender conditions, L2 is eligible to get 80 Trainsets. It is one of the biggest railway tenders for Vande Bharat trains. Further, the L1 bidder was awarded the order of 120 trains (L1 bidder was consortium between Indian company: Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. and Russian company- JSC Metrovagonmash).
Total order value for the consortium is estimated to be approximately Rs.23,000 crore (excluding taxes and duties).
The manufacturing of trains will take place at the Consortium facility and ICF facility in Chennai and the consortium partners will hold the following roles:
Respective Roles of the Partners
| BHEL | Titagarh |
| IGBT-based traction converter | Mechanical coach building |
| Auxiliary converter | Final integration |
| Train control management system | Testing |
| Traction Motors | Commissiong |
| Transformer | |
| Mechanical bogies |
and maintenance of trains will be jointly done by both BHEL and Titagarh Rail Systems.
The collaboration between these two companies is a significant milestone in achieving the vision of Atmanirbhar bharat. Both companies are dedicated to providing world class technology and contributing to the nation’s development.
Further, the Vande Bharat Trains are growing in vast scale in the past few years with the following trains operating presently:
Stock Prices– Titagarh Rail Systems Limited has been rallying high on stock exchange with an increase of 46.55% since the announcement of the order. Further, BHEL has also had a significant increase of 21.13% during the same period.
Source: Press Releases & Rail Analysis Insights
