NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): The top Indian Railways official has denied of any scam in the manufacturing of Train 18 named Vande Bharat Express. Recently, a preventive vigilance inquiry was ordered and the Chairman Railway Board VK Yadav said it was a routine procedure, a new kind of train is introduced. Now, the Railways will manufacture 40 new Train-18s.
In the next couple of months, they will call tenders for the same. Senior railway officials said that there are technical changes that shall be carried out in the new trains. “These changes would namely be kind of an upgrade to the electrical components and overall technical upgrade,” said a senior official from Railway ministry.
There were allegations about not following a correct procedure while procuring electrical equipment for self-propelled trains. The ministry received complaints about giving undue favor to companies supplying components.
Sources said that this vigilance inquiry is one of the reasons behind the alteration in the electrical components.
As of today, there are two Vande Bharat Express’ running. The second route proposed in on the Delhi-Katra sector. There is already another upgrade planned in Train 18, which is to have sleeper class like seats so that it can be operated on longer routes too.
Moreover, a new system called Distributed Power Rolling Stock too is being proposed in higher versions of Train 18s.