Tata Steel clarifies order from Railways for supply of Vande Bharat's seats and interior panels; not coaches

A Tata Steel official clarified on Sunday that the order placed by the Railways was for the supply of seats and interior panels for Vande Bharat trains and "not to manufacture its coaches".

As part of the Rs 225 crore order, Tata Steel will supply light-weight seats for 23 coaches of Vande Bharat rails and fibre-reinforced polymer composite-based interior panels for 16 coaches of the high-speed train, said Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President (VP) - Technology & New Materials Business of Tata Steel.

Bhattacharjee said that some sections of the media had reported that Tata Steel had bagged orders for manufacturing coaches of Vande Bharat trains, which is "incorrect and baseless.

He further said that Tata Steel hasn't not received any order to manufacture its coaches.

"Tata Steel has bagged the seats and interior panels order through a competitive bidding process executed by the national transporter (the Railways). We appeared as L1 for the prestigious order," he said, adding that the value of the order is Rs 225 crore.

The company will supply the composite solutions from its partner manufacturing facilities spread across India to Integral Coach Factory (ICF), Chennai, the company official said.

ICF, under the Ministry of Railways, is manufacturing high-speed trains.

"We have already supplied the items for a few of the trains. Seats with a fibre-reinforced polymer composite design are already being used in the Bangalore-Mysore sector," he said, adding that the entire order has to be supplied in 2023.

The consignment will be transported to the Railways through a rail route, Bhattacharya said.

Tata Steel will continue to develop new products and look for more opportunities in the Railways and its infrastructure in the future, Bhattacharjee said.

(With inputs from PTI)