A consortium of Titagarh Wagons and Bhel has emerged as the second lowest bidder for manufacturing and maintenance of Vande Bharat trainsets, including the upgradation of government manufacturing units and depots.

“According to the financial bid opening dated 01.03.2023, the TWL-Bhel consortium has been declared L2. The total quantity is 200 trainsets and under tender condition, L2 is eligible to get 80 trainsets. The quote of the L1 bidder is Rs 120 crore per trainset,” the company said in a statement to the stock exchanges on Thursday.

The L2 bidder would have the option to match the lowest bidder. According to a PTI report, Russia’s CJSC Transmashholding and Rail Vikas Nigam’s consortium has emerged as the lowest bidder.

“If we calculate the overall contract value for our consortium, it works out to around Rs 25,000 crore. It is a complete game changer for a company like ours. The first train has to be delivered in 24 months and the rest has to be delivered about 4-5 years after,” said Umesh Chowdhary, vice-chairman and managing director, Titagarh Wagons.

“We have already invested in our facilities over the last five years and we have created capacity for 200-250 coaches per annum and now we are enhancing it to around 450 cars per year,” Chowdhary said.

The company participated in the tender in November 2022 which involved a supply of 200 trains with the maintenance of 35 years.