MOSCOW: Amid the big push for Vande Bharat trains , the railways is yet to finalise the design for these new trains with sleeper coaches even 14 months after it signed an agreement with an Indo-Russian joint venture (JV). What has held up the freezing design is the need for more toilets, new luggage zones in every coach and a pantry car in each train to meet Indian requirements. “If Indian Railways will postpone the process, the timeline for execution will definitely be impacted.
..We are keen to start production quickly.
To my feelings, what we are discussing can all be resolved at the same time, within two hours. We are spending months just sending letters and waiting for the explanations,” said Kirill Lipa, CEO of TMH , the major shareholder in the JV that has got the contract to manufacture 1,920 Vande Bharat sleeper coaches or. Kinet Railway Solutions, the SPV of TMH and Indian Railways’ PSU, RVNL to execute the project, bagged the Rs 55,000 crore contract to manufacture Vande Bharat sleeper trains and the agreement was signed in September last year.
TMH is among the top five railway companies across the globe with more than 1 lakh manpower. Lipa said till May this year they were hopeful of rolling out the first prototype of the train by the year end. But the Indian Railways sought changes in the design of the coaches and they had to rework.
“These changes are creating the need for time and for additional budget,” he added. The SPV has sought compensation for th.