Indian Railways (IR) will procure 44 train sets of Vande Bharat express each consisting of 16 coaches. Following this, Integral Coach Factory (ICF) Chennai floated a global tender to procure these train sets.
The global competitive bid invites firms to supply 3-phase propulsion equipment (electrics) with passenger and operator related peripheral items suitable for maximum service speed 160 kmph speed with 50 per cent powering (8 motor coaches out of 16 cars in the formation as per clause no. 1.3.12 of RDSO Specification no. RDSO/PE/SPEC/EMU/0196–2019 (Rev.0).
This means the tender asks for the train set to be as per the specifications of IR’s research arm RDSO (Research Design and Standards Organisation).
Vendor neutrality in the bid is present to allow maximum potential bidders thereby ensuring competitive rates.
Four coach units
These train sets will be procured in multiples of basic Units of four coaches each which can be attached or detached from the train as per requirement. All coaches in train set will be chair car type for day travel.
This will improve reliability and operational efficiency as it will be possible to replace basic units in case of defects, or augment the train length up to 24 coaches due to increased demand.
The present train sets do not have this feature. As a result, the entire train set is rendered ineffective in case of any defect in a coach.
Bid details
Bids can be submitted till 1415 hrs on March 24 2020. A Pre-bid conference will be held in ICF ICF Chennai. The procurement will be done according to the Government’s extant “Make in India” policy.
The tender is a two packet single stage bid, where the bidder has to submit electronic bids for the technical and financial aspects of the bid simultaneously.
The technical bid will be opened first and the offers found eligible will qualify. The offer not complying with the essential technical and commercial requirement of the tender will be declared as in- eligible for award of contract.
After evaluation of the technical and commercial suitability of offers for placement of order, the financial bid will be opened for these technically suitable offers.
Train set features
To improve upon the passenger throughput by way of higher acceleration/ deceleration and reduction in turnaround time, Indian Railways have planned to introduce passenger train sets with distributed powering, working on 25000 V single phase 50 Hz OHE system.
The revised specification takes care of the improvements pointed out by Chief Commissioner for Railway Safety in the prototype rake and will provide more reliable service along with ease of operations and improved passenger comfort.
All the train sets will be provided with cab AC in DTCs , above roof HT equipment, 25 KV Roof through HT cable assembly with associated accessories like insulators, jumper cables etc, fully air-conditioned passenger compartment with vestibule arrangement, automatic plug doors with retractable footsteps, automatic intercommunication door, PAPIS consisting of in coach displays, speakers, side destination boards etc, luggage racks with reading lamps, direct lighting (for passengers) and diffused lighting (for luggage racks), continuous LED light fixtures, modular pantry equipments and GPS antenna in all coaches, Mobile/laptop charging sockets in the passenger seats, CCTVs and Emergency talk back units with networking system in all coaches.
These light weight energy efficient train sets will have a ride index of less than 3.5 against the earlier value of less than 4, which will improve passenger comfort even for longer journeys.
These optimized train sets will also be suitable for operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the electrics will be tested for continuous operations at 160 kmph.
A residual acceleration value of 0.1 ms2, which is double the earlier value of 0.05 ms2, will enable the train set to reach the top speed of 160 kmph in maximum 140 seconds. The new train sets will provide an actual saving of 20 per cent in journey time and all equipment are suitable for flooding conditions.
Train set interiors
The train set interiors will have improved fire safety as per EN 45545 HL2 and improved electrical protection and safety with a well-defined protection scheme for High Voltage roof cable, Automatic fire detection and alarm.
It is provided with explosion proof, light weight lithium-iron-phosphate batteries specified to provide back up for duration of 3 hours, state of the art aluminium body roof mounted packaged unit (RMPU) type air-conditioning units with thermal comfort based Microprocessor controller.
The peak efficiency of propulsion system of these train sets will not be less than 87 per cent which provides for a more robust, efficient and reliable system.
As on date, two train sets run IR named as Vande Bharat express – one between new Delhi and Varanasi and the second between New Delhi and Shri Mata Vaishnodevi Katra.
