Chennai ICF set to remake Vande Bharat rakes

NEW DELHI: The Indian Railways is set to procure 44 rakes of Vande Bharat trains from the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai. The ICF published a tender for supply of electrical equipment and other items on Sunday. It had earlier scrapped a previous tender in order to tweak specifications of the rakes.

“The procurement process promotes transparency, accountability and speed of delivery,” said an Indian Railways statement on Sunday. It ensures compliance with RDSO specifications and vendor neutrality to allow maximum potential bidders to ensure competitive rates. Revised specifications improve passenger throughput with higher acceleration, deceleration and reduction in turnaround time, the statement said.

“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,” the statement said. The new train sets are expected to provide an actual saving of 20% in journey time and all equipment are suitable for flooding conditions, the government claims.