The news that not a single coach of Train18 would be rolled out of ICF or Integral Coach Factory, Chennai in this year or in the near future is has caught the attention of many now. This was according to some officials belonging to ICF.
Recently, union railway minister, Mr. Piyush Goyal mentioned that Chennai based ICF would manufacture 160 caches of Train-18 in 2019-20, but the top railway officials now are having different thoughts. Point to be noted is top companies have raised concerns about the specifications for procurement of new electrical propulsion system.
In November, the specifications set by RDSO and Indian railways research wing were released. It was later revealed by Mr. Subhranshu, former chief mechanical engineer or CME, ICF Chennai that RDSO has exceeded its brief and included items to which likely bidders have objected to in writing. This was mentioned in a letter dated 13th November to Mr. V.K. Yadav, chairman of Railway Board or CRB.
It must be noted that Mr. Subhranshu is now posted at Rail Wheel Plant and was earlier part of core team that made 2 Train-18 rakes running as Vande Bharat Express on Delhi-Varanasi and Delhi-Katra routes.
According to the letter written by Mr. Subhranshu it is clear that delay in the production at ICF has been the reason cited for floating the proposal to import 60 train sets or 960 coaches at an amount of Rs 25000 crores. It is worthy to note that atleast 3 multinational companies have complained against the specifications that indicate the supplier must provide bogies, automatic doors and brake system along with the propulsion system. This was mentioned by some sources belonging to the railways.
The information is after the board officials found fault with the propulsion system in the first 2 rakes, the specifications were revised by RDSO. The letter had brought out that the revised specifications would make the competition narrower and make the playing field more uneven. As a result, ICF would not be able to deliver the third Train-18 before the month of March in 2023.
The letter also revealed about the indefinite stalling of the production of air-conditioned EMU’s of Mumbai suburban and MEMUs for branch lines. It was later pointed out by an official that ICF is now manufacturing only LHB (Linke Hoffmann Busch) coaches or the passenger coaches. An official of the railway board then mentioned about the uncertainty regarding the processing these tenders.