Indian Railways has cancelled a tender that involved manufacturing 44 semi-high-speed Vande Bharat train sets.
Floated last year, the tender was cancelled after it was found that some bidders had disclosed details of financial offers in their technical bids.
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Railway Board chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav was quoted by Livemint as saying: “While evaluating the technical bids of train set tenders, the tender committee has noticed that some of the details of financial offers have been revealed in the technical bids.
“To maintain the complete transparency, the tender committee has recommended cancelling this tender and inviting fresh tenders.”
Technical bids are usually opened first for evaluation. Subsequently, the tender committee opens the financial bids of those bidders who qualify in the technical bidding process, the publication added.
A Ministry of Railways statement said a new tender will be floated within a week.
The fresh tender will include a provision that will require the local procurement involving more than 50% of the component. The step is aligned with the government’s Aatma Nirbhar Bharat initiative.
It will also include the provision to build the train sets at all three production units, namely ICF Chennai, the Rail Coach Factory in Kapurthala, and the Modern Coach Factory in Raebareli.
Originally named Train 18, the Vande Bharat Express commenced commercial operations last year.
The train is capable of running at a maximum speed of 160km/h.
