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Talking to reporters at his office in Churchgate, south Mumbai, MRVC Chairman and Managing Director Vilas Wadekar said the first of these 12-coach AC suburban trains, to be manufactured at three facilities of the Railways, will be procured in 2027.<\/p>\n
The entire fleet of 238 rakes will be made available by 2030, he informed.<\/p>\n
These 238 ‘Vande Metro’ suburban trains (2,856 coaches) are being procured with an estimated rolling-stock cost of \u20b919,293 crore.<\/p>\n
The AC local rakes, to be procured under the ambitious Mumbai Urban Transport Project (MUTP) 3, will be manufactured at the Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai; Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala; and Modern Coach Factory (MCF), Raebareli, Wadekar said.<\/p>\n
In June 2023, MRVC had invited international bids for the procurement of 238 AC rakes along with their lifetime maintenance. The deadline for submission of bids was extended several times, but the corporation failed to receive expected response.<\/p>\n
The 238 rakes, comprising 2,856 coaches in a 12-coach configuration, were originally planned as Vande Metro suburban trains under MUTP.<\/p>\n
In a video message circulated by authorities on Wednesday evening, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said there were “a lot of problems” with the earlier procurement process and that the Union government had therefore taken the decision to manufacture the trains at its three production units.<\/p>\n
“The entire procurement was going to be completed in 2030 and that’s not acceptable to us. That is why a new decision has been taken today that their production will be done in the Government of India’s three production units — ICF, RCF and MCF — so that the first local should arrive by 2027,” Vaishnaw said.<\/p>\n
According to an MRVC press release issued following the press conference, an assessment of the procurement timeline showed that series production under the earlier approach would have taken about three years to commence.<\/p>\n
As a result, the first rake would have become available only in 2030 and the complete fleet by 2034, the release pointed out.<\/p>\n
The tender, issued a month after the Railway Board approved the procurement in May 2023, envisaged a two-year period for manufacturing prototype rakes followed by five years of series production at an average rate of around 50 trains annually.<\/p>\n
The successful bidder was also required to establish new maintenance depots at Vangaon in Palghar district and Bhivpuri in Raigad district, upgrade existing maintenance facilities and undertake comprehensive annual maintenance of the trains and depots for 35 years.<\/p>\n
A senior MRVC official said the revised manufacturing programme would enable the AC rakes to be inducted alongside the commissioning of new corridors and other capacity augmentation works.<\/p>\n
As per the release, the accelerated manufacturing programme is being pursued alongside a major expansion of Mumbai’s suburban railway infrastructure, with around \u20b922,000 crore being invested in capacity augmentation.<\/p>\n
The works include new corridors, additional railway lines, extension of platforms to accommodate 15-coach trains, yard remodelling and other measures aimed at strengthening the suburban network.<\/p>\n
The simultaneous manufacturing of AC rakes and expansion of the suburban network is expected to substantially improve the capacity, comfort and safety of Mumbai’s Railway system, MRVC said.<\/p>\n
The MUTP-III and MUTP-III-A projects, under which several capacity augmentation works are being undertaken, have estimated cost of \u20b910,947 crore and \u20b933,690 crore, respectively.<\/p>\n
Under the earlier tender, the successful bidder was required to supply the air-conditioned Vande Metro rakes within seven years, along with setting up new maintenance depots at Vangaon and Bhivpuri, and upgrading existing maintenance facilities, the official said.<\/p>\n
The tender also provided for two years for manufacturing prototype Vande Metro trains, followed by five years of series production at an average rate of around 50 trains annually.<\/p>\n
The bidder was also required to undertake comprehensive annual maintenance of the trains and maintenance depots for 35 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n