Railway Board should review the Track Record of Suppliers of Track Machines

Admin
The Firms have some developmental orders from past many years which are not even initiated on the Design Platform, forget Developing
Once a Vendor is technically qualified in the tender, the quantities should fall in the systematic ratio irrespective of past supplies made
Tender Eligibility Criteria/Ordering Criteria is based on the credential of total track machines supplied by a Firm in preceding 7 years, which shall be taken as a calculation to place the order but this calculation was never taken into practice in any tenders by Railways
  1. Railway Board Tender No. 2025-TM-1 for Utility Track Vehicle
  2. Railway Board Tender No. TM-2303 for Rail Boarne Maintenance Vehicle

Ministry of Railway, Railway Bhawan, Track Directorate procures various types of #TrackMachines for its Track Maintenance. These are all self-propelled machines and perform different types of activities for maintenance of track. The Custodian and Payment Authority is Central Railway for all types of Track Machines.

Recent 2 Tenders of Indian Railways

Tender #1

Tender No. 2025-TM-1 opened on 25.03.2025 for 101 Numbers of Design, Manufacture, Supply, Testing & Commissioning of On-track Utility Track Vehicles (BG 1676 mm), including training for Indian Railways personnel and a 3-year post-warranty Annual Maintenance Contract (#AMC).

Tender Committee (TC)

  • Convener​: ED/RS(P) Rajendra Kumar Soni
  • Technical​: ED/Track Machines Vijay Singh
  • Finance​: ED/Finance(S) Randhir Sahay

1st time procurement of UTV

  • This type of UTV is procured for the 1st time and all firms had to submit the Design along with Prototype Inspection but orders placed on the old sources.
  • No opportunity given to a new source.
  • Tender Ordering Clause stated that Order to be placed on 2 Firms. TC can decide to place on more.

Orders placed on existing old sources only.

  • San Engg & Locomotive Co. Ltd.
  • BEML Ltd.
  • Phooltas Transrail Ltd.

Negotiation not called

Negotiation was not called against Tender No. 2025-TM-1 opened on 25.03.2025 for 101 Nos. of Design, Manufacture, Supply, Testing & Commissioning of On-track Utility Track Vehicles (#UTV) and why order was placed on #Phooltas Transrail when Tender conditions clearly stated that order will be placed on 2 sources with 60:40 ratio?

Phooltas Transrail’s Rates were 11.18% higher as compared to that of San Engineering. Why was BEML order shared with Phooltas in the 40% category and San Engineering been awarded 60% of the tender quantity?

Tender #2

Tender No. TM-2303 due on 11.03.2025 and financial bids opened on 11.07.2025 for 422 Nos. of Design, Manufacture, Supply, Testing & Commissioning of Rail Borne Maintenance Vehicle (#RBMV—BG/1676 mm), including training for Indian Railways personnel and a 3-year post-warranty Annual Maintenance Contract (#AMC).

In an earlier Tender No. TM-1817 for Procurement of 104 Nos. of Design, Manufacture, Supply, Testing & Commissioning of RBMV (BG/1676 mm), including training for Indian Railways personnel and a 3-year post-warranty Annual Maintenance Contract (AMC) the following was decided-

  • 57 Nos. on Phooltas Transrail vide Railway Board Contract No. 2018/Track-III/MC/13 dated 04.12.2019. Till date supplied quantity 8 Nos. only.
  • 30 Nos. on San Engineering & Locomotive Co. Ltd vide Railway Board Contract No. 2018/Track-III/MC/13 (i) dated February 2020. Till date supplied quantity 6 Nos. only.
  • 17 Nos. on Ovis Equipment Pvt. Ltd. vide Railway Board Contract No. 2018/Track-III/MC/13 (ii) dated 11.10.2019. Till date supplied quantity only 0/1 Nos.

Above can be verified from #CentralRailway as #PFA/CR is paying authority for total procurement of track machines for #IndianRailways.

Calculation to place order

Tender Eligibility Criteria/Ordering Criteria is based on the credential of total track machines supplied by a Firm like UTV/RBMV/Track Machine in preceding 7 years, which shall be taken as a calculation to place the order on the Firms. This calculation was never taken into practice in any tenders by Railways.

As per IRS Conditions of Contract and as per GFR Rules, one cannot ignore that past contract (7 years old) of same type of machine which remains non-executed. Once a #Vendor is technically qualified in the tender, the quantities should fall in the systematic ratio irrespective of past supplies made.

Only San Engineering and Phooltas Transrail have had bulk orders on them in the past and that OLD ORDER against Tender No. TM-1817 is NOT EXECUTED. Reliable industry sources say that Railways has the availability of machines this year which should be procured in this year from San Engineering, Phooltas Transrail and Ovis Equipment.

1st time such huge quantity

These UTV/RBMV tenders come once in 5 years. It is the 1st time that such a huge quantity has been called for RBMV. The Companies as mentioned like Phooltas Transrail Ltd. and San Engineering & Locomotive Co. Ltd. have been receiving small quantity orders in the past from Indian Railways and supply performance can be reviewed that every order has deviated the Original Contract Delivery Period.

Industry sources say that these Firms have some developmental orders too from past many years which are not even initiated on the Design Platform, forget Developing. Where can the supply credential come for other Firms of preceding 7 years of delivering UTV/RBMV/Track Machines as required vide this tender eligibility TM-2303 ???

Capacity Assessment

Track Directorate of Railway Board does not do any capacity assessment of the Bidding Firms taking into consideration details of Covered Area, Plant and Machinery, Details of Orders supplied, Financial Capability, etc. Production capacity can be calculated in terms of Metric Tonne, Quantity of other Rolling Stock, Turnover of the Organisation, Details of Contracts executed year on year, etc.

Why San Engineering, Ovis Equipment and Phooltas Transrail are not given a pass over in the Tender no. TM-2303 and quantity is provisioned subject to completion of earlier orders. A Detailed Report can be given by Track Directorate, Railway Board of the pending orders on San Engineering, Phooltas Transrail and Ovis Equipment.

Conclusion

Industry experts say that #RailwayBoard should give Counter Offer to all the Technically Approved and Qualified Sources and assuring them higher quantity in case if supplied early.

Experts asked, what makes the reliability on a firm that could supply only 7-8 Nos. out of the ordered quantity in preceding 7 years and how will these firms be able to supply 422 Nos. which is required in 4 years? Contd..