Tender for manufacturing & maintaining 9,000 hp electric locomotives was executed in a transparent manner: Indian Railways
Railways board dismissed the charges as "baseless". The official in a statement states that Siemens & Alstom, both the firms are capable of Manufacture 9000 Horse Power Locomotive and had participated in the 2022 bidding process for manufacturing locomotives in Dahod factory, Gujarat. However, Siemens won it, as it was the lowest bidder with a highly competitive price.
Abhishek Byahut
New Delhi
Indian Railways on Monday strongly denied the misleading allegations that made the Indian National Congress party against the tender process of Indian Railways ambitious project of the production of 9000 hp electric locomotives at Dahod.
The official of the Railways board dismissed the charges as “baseless”. The official in a statement states that Siemens & Alstom, both the firms are capable of Manufacture 9000 Horse Power Locomotive and had participated in 2022 bidding process for manufacturing locomotives in Dahod factory, Gujarat. However, Siemens won it, as it was the lowest bidder with a highly competitive price.
In a statement released by Railways board, it has been said that team of technical and financial experts evaluated the bid in line with due transparent processes that Indian railways has always followed
The statement further states that over 89% Components of Dahod locomotives are made in India.
The evaluation of the bids was conducted by a team of experts in technical and financial areas, adhering to Indian Railways’ established procedures. Both Alstom and Siemens scored equally in the technical assessment, and the contract was awarded to the bidder with the lowest financial offer, said an official.
The pricing discovered through this process is competitive, and all terms of the contract align with the initial tender documents, with no changes made. The evaluation was conducted without any conflicts of interest, as it followed standard rules. Since 2016, Railway Ministers have not been involved in tender approvals; this responsibility lies with Railway Board Members and regional units, ensuring transparency and neutrality, the official added.
Indian Railways has shifted toward life cycle cost-based procurement to enhance product reliability and passenger safety. Currently, about 89% of the components for the Dahod locomotives are manufactured in India, reflecting a growing local manufacturing ecosystem. Lastly, the locomotives produced at Dahod will be maintained at four depots: Visakhapatnam, Raipur, Kharagpur, and Pune.
