The Indian Railways and Tata Steel have agreed to manufacture 22 trains of the country’s fastest and most feature-rich Vande Bharat Express in the coming year. The Ministry of Railways has set a production target of 200 Vande Bharat trains for the next two years, as well as a target of running the first Vande Bharat sleeper version by the first quarter of 2024. With this in mind, an agreement has been signed between Indian Railways and Tata Steel on a number of schemes to expedite production.
Tata Steel will now manufacture the seats in the Vande Bharat Express, from first AC to three-tier coaches. The company has also been awarded the contract for the production of Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) train coaches, under which structures of panels, windows, and railways are being prepared. Currently, the Indian Railways has awarded a tender of approximately Rs 145 crore to a multinational steel company for the manufacture of train parts, which is expected to be completed in 12 months. Tata Steel’s composites division began working in this direction after receiving a bulk order for the Vande Bharat Express seating system, which included 22 train sets with 16 coaches each.
“The seats of this train are specially designed, which can rotate up to 180 degrees and have aircraft-like passenger amenities, which are a first in India,” said Debashish Bhattacharya, Vice President (Technology and New Materials Business), Tata Steel. According to sources, Tata Steel is constantly working to increase its stake in the Railways and has sent officials to coordinate with the Railways.