4 Apr 2023 17:04

THM planning to sign contract in May on delivery of 120 electric trains for Indian railways

MOSCOW. April 4 (Interfax) - Transmashholding (TMH) plans to sign a contract to supply electric trains for Indian railroads in spring after winning a tender, the company's CEO Kirill Lipa told reporters on the sidelines of the Russian State Duma.

"It will be in May," he said, responding to a question about the timing.

According to Lipa, TMH will open a subsidiary in India. "It will sign a contract with the railroads [of India]," he said.

We are talking about delivery of 120 trains. "Everything will be built in India, because India has a make-in-India act, which requires strict localization," he said.

Earlier, the Vedomosti newspaper reported that the national carrier Indian Railways (IR) sent an official notice to a Russian-Indian consortium to award a winning bid for the supply of 120 passenger electric trains (1,920 cars) for India worth over $1.7 billion.

The consortium members are TMH entities - Metrowagonmash and Locomotive Electronic Systems - with 70% and 5% of shares respectively, and the remaining 25% belong to Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL, a subsidiary of IR).

According to the newspaper, production is to be set up in India at the Indian Railways plants in Latur and Chennai (Madras), with a successful bidder obliged to upgrade their production facilities as well as depots. Furthermore, the contract provides for the maintenance of the rolling stock for 35 years.

IR should receive the first prototype electric train two years after the conclusion of the agreement, after which supplies will begin gradually. The maximum term of the contract is 82 months.

Earlier, the Times of India reported that the consortium of TMH and Rail Vikas Nigam in the tender for the purchase of Vande Bharat electric trains offered the lowest price of 1.2 billion rupees ($ 14.5 million) for one train. Competitors' bids were more expensive. The consortium of the Indian companies Titagarh and BHEL was prepared to supply rolling stock worth 1.4 billion rupees ($16.9 million) and a joint venture between German Siemens and Indian BEML - for 1.45 billion rupees ($17.6 million). Offers from France's Alstom, as well as Switzerland's Stadler and India's MSD turned out to be even more expensive. The service package for the electric trains is not included in the contract price.

The tender to supply trains for Indian Railways was announced in April 2022, and the participation of TMH was announced in December of last year. The total number of trains envisaged under the contract is 200 units. However, during the tender process, it was decided to divide the order among several manufacturers to speed up deliveries.

The companies that offered the lowest price will receive an order for 120 trains. The remaining 80 will go to the second-placed consortium (in this case the bid of India's Titagarh and BHEL), but only on the condition that it will reduce the cost of delivery to the level of the winner. If the latter refuses, the other bidders will receive a similar offer. If there are no willing bidders, these 80 trains will also be supplied by the consortium of TMH and RVNL.

If the option for 80 more trains is chosen, the contract amount will increase to $2.9 billion.