China's government company CRRC Corporation has emerged as the only foreign company in the global tender for the ambitious semi-fast indigenous train-18 project of Indian Railways. The officials have provided this information.

CRRC Electric (India) Private Limited is also among the six bidders for purchasing Propulsion Systems or Electric Traction Kit for 44 Vande Bharat Express or Train-18 which is a shared product of the Chinese company CRRC Corporation with the company present in Gurugram.

Other bidders include the country's Heavy Electricals, Hyderabad-based Medha Group, ElectroWaves Electronic Private Limited and Mumbai-based Powernetics Equipment Private Limited. Officials said that the first train-18 started last year cost Rs 100 crore, out of which Rs 35 crore was spent only on the propulsion system. The current tenders for 44 such kits will be more than Rs 1,500 crore.

The chairman of the Railway Board, Vinod Kumar Yadav, told that 'We have received bids from 6 companies for the train set.' The current tenders were released by Integral Coach Factory in Chennai on December 22 last year. This is the third such tenders for these trains. The first tenders were for 43 train sets. But the order was given for only three, which included Spanish company CAF and Medha Dal. Medha Dal had supplied the first rail. Other tenders were issued for 37 Train-18 propulsion systems. But it was cancelled.

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