Indian Railways is set to manufacture another 58 Vande Bharat or Train 18 rakes by 2024. Integral Coach Factory (ICF) has floated a tender for the design, manufacture, supply and integration of propulsion equipment for the trainsets.
Work to manufacture 44 rakes of the earlier tender, the propulsion systems for which are to be supplied by Medha, has already begun. If timelines are adhered to, IR could boast of 102 operational Train-18 trainsets by the end of financial year 2023-24.
It is not clear how IR plans to utilize the trainsets when serial production begins in the first half of 2023.
New Train-18 / Vande Bharat Trainset Tender Timeline
The new tender envisages propulsion systems adhering to the same RDSO specifications as the 44 rake order under execution currently.
| Milestones for 58 Rake Supply Tender | Timeline |
| Tender Process | |
| Notice Inviting Tender | 28th August 2021 |
| Pre Bid Conference | 21st September 2021 |
| Closing Date | 20th October 2021 |
In case there is no change in design, the supplier has to start supply of equipment in 8 months from the appointed date, or the date of award of contract. If the winning bidder offers a ‘new design’, the process is likely to require 24 months from the date of award. A new design will have to go through fresh approvals and require static and dynamic testing of prototypes.
Assuming all timelines hold, ICF, MCF and RCF could start rolling out trainsets from this new order as early as December 2022 provided there are no significant changes to design.
| Design, Testing, Approvals and Prototype Delivery Timeline | For Existing Design (Time in Months) | For New Design (Time in Months) |
| Date of notification of award / signing of contract | D | D |
| Submission of OGA Drawings | D+1 | D+1 |
| Design Approval from ICF | D+2 | D+3 |
| Submission of Schematics, design documents, etc to ICF/RDSO | D+3 | D+5 |
| Approvals of Schematics, design documents, etc | D+4 | D+7 |
| Type Tests of Propulsion Equipment | D+10 | |
| Approval of Type Tests | D+11 | |
| Witnessing of Routine Tests RDSO / ICF / RITES | D+6 | D+13 |
| Approval of Routine Tests | D+7 | D+15 |
| Supply of Propulsion Equipment | D+8 | D+16 |
| Installation and Commissioning of Prototype Rake | D+19 | |
| Static, Dynamic and Oscillation Trials | D+22 | |
| Introduction of Prototype Rakes in Commercial Service | D+24 | |
| Serial Production | D+8 (?) | D+30 (?) |
The schedule above puts adherence to the existing design at a significant advantage. Indian Railways has not provided clarity on how the January 2021 order schedule will be impacted with the new tender.
Planned Train-18 Production Breakup
According to the tender document, IR has already chalked out a production plan, assuming production will be of existing design, from March 2023 onwards. IR targets rolling out all 58 rakes by February 2024.
Old Train-18 / Vande Bharat Trainset Tender and Controversies
The design and production of the modern 160 kmph fit Train-18 has been beset with controversy over the past several years. From very public inter-departmental spats to vigilance cases filed against officials, the process has been beset with delays and multiple hurdles. The vigilance cases were withdrawn earlier this year.
Controversy surrounding the project led to the floating of a tender to procure propulsion systems, the core of the spat, in 2020. The process was scrapped in August 2020 citing technical reasons. Another tender was floated in September 2020 for the contentious propulsion systems for the original 44 trainsets. This was later awarded to Hyderabad based Medha Servo Drive.
A three year delay is the result. 640 coaches (40 trainsets) were to be rolled out by the end of FY 2022. Only two prototypes were built before Indian Railways shelved the plans and decided to call for a fresh tender.
Unless environmental issues are not solved or controlled to the desired degree, the so-called Vanderbilt Bharat trains or the like will be mostly idling as it is happening now.