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           “With four factories producing Vande Bharat trains simultaneously,   signs of aggressive bidding as witnessed in other infrastructure
           we should be able to do two or three Vande Bharat trains every   segments like roads, railways, etc. As per ICRA’s analysis, about
           week by the end of the next financial year. The focus is scaling up   58% of the projects (by value) were awarded at a premium over the
           production. It will fulfil the Prime Minister’s vision of covering every   base price, with 14% of the projects awarded at a premium of over
           major city and small towns by Vande Bharat trains.”  20%. While 42% of the bids were awarded at a discount; majority
           ICRA in its recent research report estimates that metro rail projects will   of these were at a nominal discount and only 7% of winning bids
           generate `800 billion of opportunities for construction companies   were at discount of over 25%.
           over the next five years. In India, 15 cities have operational metro   Added Gupta, “Competitive intensity is expected to remain
           networks of about 746 km (many of which are undertaking network   moderate in the near to medium term, with the incumbents
           expansion), while another seven cities of about 640 km have under-  expected to benefit the most. Given that majority of the orders are
           implementation metro projects. This apart, 1,400 km of metro rail   funded by multilateral agencies as well as Central Government
           projects worth `2 trillion are in the approval/proposal stage; of   allocations, the cash conversion cycle of the industry participants
           which a 352-km of new metro network has been approved, with   will remain comfortable.”
           the balance being in the proposal stage.            With the Ministry of Railways working on a blueprint to start export of
           Giving more insights on this,  Abhishek Gupta, Sector Head &   the indigenously manufactured Vande Bharat trains by 2025-26, the
           Assistant Vice President, Corporate Ratings, ICRA, stated, “Given   underlying design and technology is now garnering global attention.
           the Government’s thrust for infrastructure          Many of its features are novel in India, including technology that
           development, the metro rail network is              captures some of the energy trains generate when braking and
           likely to witness 2.7 times expansion in the        feeds it back to the power grid. The railways, in association with
           next  five  years.  Typically,  the  metro  rail    global firms, is working to develop ‘tilting trains’ — which can run
           development cost ranges between `280-               on curved tracks without slowing down — in India by 2025-26. At
           320 crore/km for elevated metro and the             least 100 of the 400 Vande Bharat trains to be manufactured by
           cost could be much higher in the case of            2025 will use this technology.
           an underground metro network. Civil construction forms ~35%-45%   “We  will  have  tilting  trains  in  the  country.  We  will  tie  up  with  a
           of the overall cost. Given the large size of the metro projects, this   technology partner for this. We will have this technology in 100
           is likely to offer sizeable opportunities for construction companies   Vande Bharat trains over the next two or three years,” the official
           over the next five years.”                          said, adding that such trains are now operational in 11 countries
           Due to the presence of a limited number of players in the sector,   — Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, the
           the competitive intensity has so far remained moderate with no   UK, Switzerland, China, Germany and Romania.


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