New Delhi, August 21: The railways said on Friday it had cancelled the tender for manufacturing 44 semi-high speed Vande Bharat Express trains, which was floated last year. Last month, when the tender was opened, a Chinese joint venture firm had emerged as the only foreign player among the six contenders for the supply of electrical equipment and other items for the 44 train sets of 16 coaches each. Also Read | Rajiv Kumar, Former Finance Secretary, to Replace Ashok Lavasa As Election Commissioner; Who Is He?.

"Tender for manufacturing of 44 nos of semi high speed train sets (Vande Bharat) has been cancelled. Fresh tender will be floated within a week as per Revised Public Procurement (Preference to Make in India) order," the Railway Ministry said in a tweet. The national transporter, however, did not specify the reason behind the cancellation of the tender. Also Read | Meghalaya Govt to Seal State Borders From Midnight of August 31 to September 7 Amid Rising COVID-19 Cases.

Railway Ministry's Tweet

Officials said going by the cost of manufacturing the first Train 18, which was launched last year at an expense of Rs 100 crore, of which Rs 35 crore were for the propulsion system alone, the present tender for 44 such kits would be worth over Rs 1,500 crore.

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