RVNL, TMH group told to resolve issues in Vande Bharat sleeper train deal

The issues between the companies will soon be resolved and contracts for making trains will be signed, a top government official said

Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) and Russia's TMH have been asked to resolve their differences and go ahead with the contract for the sleeper design of Vande Bharat trains, The Economic Times (ET) has reported citing a top government official in the know.

The two companies have been told to move ahead with the tender in which the consortium had emerged as the lowest bidder. "The issues between the companies will soon be resolved and contracts for making trains will be signed," the official told the newspaper.

People involved in the negotiation process said that the Indian Railways is looking forward to awarding the contract at the price quoted by the TMH-RVNL consortium.

TMH-RVNL had quoted a price of Rs 120 crore train which was substantially lower than prices quoted by competitors such as BHEL-Titagarh (Rs 139.38 crore), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML)-Siemens (Rs 145 crore), Alstrom Transport (Rs 164.52 crore), and Medha Servo Drives-Stadler Rail (Rs 165 crore), the ET reported. The TMH-RVNL consortium had submitted its bid to supply 120 of the 200 trains on offer by the Indian Railways.

The contract includes the supply of train sets by 2029 and maintenance service for a period of more than 15 years. Last month, the BHEL-Titagarh group matched the bid price submitted by TMH-RVNL and finalised a contract with the Indian Railways to make the remaining 80 Vande Bharat sleeper train sets.

Head of business development in India, TMH Group, Sergey Medvedev had told ET in June that RVNL is looking for a change in the conditions that were originally signed upon by the two parties.

As per the original understanding reached between TMH and RVNL, Metrowagonmash (MWM) which is part of the TMH Group, held a 70 per cent stake in the joint venture (JV), another Russian train control systems producer LES held a five per cent stake in the JV, and the remaining 25 per cent was owned by RVNL. However, as the JV won the bid, RVNL said that it wanted a 69 per cent ownership in the JV, the ET report said.