Railways awards contract for supply 39,000 train wheels to Chinese company

New Delhi: Rail transport company, Indian Railways has accorded a contract with a Chinese company, TZ (Taizhong) Hong Kong International Limited for the supply of 39,000 train wheels worth Rs 170 crore as deliveries from other countries got negatively affected due to the war in Ukraine conflict.

However, the train wheels are for India's semi-high-speed, intercity, EMU train Vande Bharat Train also known as Train 18.

According to a government order, Any bidder from such countries sharing a land border with India will be eligible to bid in any procurement whether of goods, services (including consultancy services and non-consultancy services) or works (including turnkey projects) only if the bidder is registered with the competent authority, according to the government order.

The tender for the same was floated on April 4 and the railway ministry awarded it to TZ on May 2. Accordingly, these wheels are for the Vande Bharat trains. 

Background

The manufacturing of 'Train-2018' was finally completed in October 2018 and it was rolled out. It consisted of 80% indigenous parts while 20% was imported.

After four years of planning, manufacturing, and trial run, Train 18 was finally inaugurated on 15 February 2019 and was ready to write a new chapter in the history books of Indian Railways. 

In the 2022 Union Budget, the government announced to manufacture 400 more Vande Bharat Express during the next three years.