Order to build 100 Vande Bharat trains has been cancelled, know why the Indian Railways got angry

It had planned to cover every nook and corner of the country with Vande Bharat Express by 2027-28. In such a situation, the plan to run the Vande Bharat Train on all long routes in the country has suffered a major setback as the Modi government canceled the contract worth Rs 30 thousand crores for building Vande Bharat trains. The government had fixed a target to build 100 Vande Bharats under this scheme, but Indian Railways even canceled this contract before the completion of the tender itself. Absolutely, this step by the government will delay the completion of the scheme. More time has been demanded by Indian Railways to restart the process.

The Railways' decision has come as a severe blow to the Vande Bharat Scheme. All the big companies of the world had presented their claim for the tender issued by the railways earlier. But, the talks had reached the final round only with the French company Alstom. After that, no agreement could be reached on the money and the railways withdrew this tender.

According to railway officials, the people sitting in the tender found the bid of French company Alstom very high. The people from Alstom had quoted the price of a train set as Rs 150.9 crore. But the railways wanted this price not to exceed Rs 140 crore. After this, different proposals were made from both sides and Alstom agreed to it at Rs 145 crore.

Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge said during an interview in July 2023 that the company would use new aluminum technology. Henri Poupart-Lafarge had also said at that time that the company had given a good price for the project. According to a railway official, earlier the contract for manufacturing 200 stainless steel Vande Bharat Sleeper Train sets was given at the rate of Rs 120 crore per train.