An Acid Test for Rail Ministry. Will it baulk at the brink?

 

Train 18/Vande Bharat express is constantly in news now-a-days, what with PM Narendra Modi ji himself launching every train. Let us pause and look back. A sterling team of brilliant engineers from Chennai’s Integral Coach factory (ICF) of Indian Railways (IR) and allied railway industry came together with great synergy and conceptualized Train 18/Vande Bharat express in 2018; subsequently, a near world-class train, designed and manufactured entirely in India in just 18 months at a fraction of what it would take both in terms of time and cost anywhere across the globe, was turned out by ICF. This train caught the imagination of the countrymen because they saw it as a symbol of resurgent and aspirational India, paving the way for a whole new ballgame in rail transportation in India. I was the fortunate leader of this team and I have naturally followed the story of proliferation of this train since then.

 

After the two rakes which were turned out in 2019, there was a period of lull and inaction for nearly three years as venal vilification of the train and the team started. There is no point in recounting the negativity as we knew all along that no wrong had been done and no mud would eventually stick. Precious time was wasted due to these machinations even as the two trains continued giving trouble-free service. Things, however, changed dramatically since the present Minister of Railways took over and the vibes today are great. There have been various announcements: by the PM on 15^th August, 21 that 75 such trains would ply across the country in 75 weeks and in the budget speech last year by Finance Minister that 400 Vande Bharat trains would be manufactured in the coming three years.. A common refrain in railway and industrial circles has been that the government had overreached. I viewed it differently; it may be a long shot and it may not be possible in the next three years but it has sent great signals to the country in general and IR and allied industry in particular. What is important is that there is very positive agitation and energy towards making more Vande Bharat trains.

 

Six rakes have been turned out by ICF since August 22. ICF plans to turn out rakes at the rate of 2 to 3 per month from January 23 onwards. Added to the enhanced activity at ICF, the Ministry of Railways has shown further resolve and three huge tenders have been floated for improved Vande Bharat 18 clones which, if finalized before March 23, should have good deliveries from the year 2025 onwards, with the potential to change the very map of passenger travel in India.

 

These tenders shook the world and practically everyone connected with rail transportation took notice. Indian railway sector is coming of age. There is a question mark on the deployment of so many trains as the infrastructure development for 160 kmph operation is lagging but I tend to support this move for many reasons, viz, 1) We had built an advanced demonstrative train which was a long time coming but it is not world-class; to reach world-class inputs from private sector in India and abroad is definitely called for 2)  Assuming that the government has a thought-out plan for such large-scale deployment of these trains, it would not be possible without significant induction through participation of other train-builders in the country 3) Since the tender envisaged involvement of ICF staff in the process from the beginning, the learnings so acquired would go a long way in equipping them to deal with more advanced designs.

 

The technical bid of the first of these tenders for 200 Sleeper version of VB trains, the biggest tender ever floated by IR, opened recently with five bidders, viz., Alstom, Siemens-BEML, Stadler-Medha, BHEL-Titagarh and TMH-RVNL. As the market is watching the process of evaluation of these bids, negativity and propaganda, which has been the bane of large tenders of IR for rolling stock, have raised their heads.

 

Check out this tweet:

https://twitter.com/RailSamachar/status/1607952208905240576?s=20&t=N0Ek4pZ4IW2jmbmbMrscwg

This periodical, masquerading as a rail journal, is seeking to attribute motives to the officers of Electrical department in destroying the careers of officers of Mechanical department. While some top officers of Electrical department in 2018 and 2019 were certainly responsible for this act, those at the helm today had nothing to do with it. The fact is that the witch hunt that was perpetrated was rooted in jealousy, corruption and inaction of top officers of both the departments. A big irony, a laughable travesty, is that this publication vilified me at the behest of a top Mechanical officer in 2018 which precisely was the beginning of the negativity to victimise me, the team and the train and therefore proved very detrimental in the long term. Today, it shamelessly refers to this deplorable attempt by some officers to serve its diabolical end with a smokescreen of championing the cause of victimized Mechanical officers.

 

It is not proper to discuss the goings-on in case of a large tender still under deliberation. But since there is a crooked attempt to raise fallacious objections to the points raised in letters written by Alstom and Stadler in media, now in public domain thanks to this tweet, I see merit in clarifying the issue, as per my understanding, for public consumption. Alstom have informed the Board that certain bidders have claimed false credentials in respect of design, manufacture and supply of traction motors; one has included credential which actually belong to M/s Alstom. The claim of M/s Alstom rings true and logical because none of these bidders like BHEL, BEML and Titagarh have any experience in design of traction motors in the specified speed range and therefore it calls for rejection of the offer of these bidders after due verification. Accepting their claims on face value would be very counter-productive and even lead to long law suits. Another aspect highlighted by both of them is in respect of sanctity of a consortium, which should last with continuous participation of its members for the contract period of nine years; this would be severely impacted if one of consortium member of a bidder is acquired by another bidder in the interim as could very well be the case in case of BEML, which is on the table for divestment with TMH as one of the likely purchasers of its ownership. Both Alstom and Stadler have asked for fair evaluation of these aspects before finalizing the evaluation of technical bids and it is absolutely in order to raise this issue, particularly as the officers of Railway board involved must be under tremendous pressure not to eliminate the offers of PSUs, ignoring whether they qualify on merit or not.

 

There is another important aspect of critically examining the track record of the bidders who have seemingly submitted a competent offer. Two companies involved here have been awarded with several orders for supply of propulsion systems for EMUs, MEMUs and even Vande Bharat express. In spite of passage of many years (in some cases five years), they have delivered exactly nothing. Would assigning this project to them not be a perfect recipe to let this prestigious and ambitious initiative dissipate into botched deliveries? Will it not cause sever embarrassment to IR in the global arena?

 

It is clear that there is a wicked attempt to browbeat the officers into dealing the tender with a false pretence of propriety and transparency and brush off genuine concerns raised by capable bidders. If these officers fall prey to the malicious propaganda fearing the nuisance value of some unscrupulous proponents and incompetent bidders, the image of IR and  the country would suffer an irreparable damage. What emerged as great euphoria promoting IR as a professional entity on the path to modernize its rolling stock would degenerate into the familiar story of a well-meaning exercise baulking at the brink to nothingness.

 

I neither hold a brief for any bidder nor do I have an axe to grind. As the creator of the train and as an independent consultant today, I am well within my rights to call a spade a spade. All I wish is that the offers get evaluated in an objective manner in word and spirit of the eligibility criteria and track record of performance and delivery, in a fair and fearless manner. My advice to Railway Board for whatever it is worth, I dare say, is that it is now or never. They must bite the bullet and ensure that IR transcends to the next quantum in Indian passenger rolling stock business in India.

 

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