India: Plants of Indian Railways will build and maintain all Vande Metro EMUs ordered for Mumbai, under a project worth INR 192.9 bln ($2 bln). The contract covers 238 twelve-car trains — 2,856 cars in total — plus 35 years of maintenance.
Three Indian Railways plants share the build: Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai will produce 120 trains, Rail Coach Factory (RCF) in Kapurthala will build 71, and Modern Coach Factory (MCF) in Raebareli will supply the remaining 47.
Mumbai suburban operator MRVC first put this order out to international tender in summer 2023. No bids came in, and the tender was relaunched last autumn. Various technical issues then pushed the bid deadline back several times.
UPD 31/08/2026: Following reader comments, the ROLLINGSTOCK editorial team carried out additional analysis of open sources related to this procurement. The statement that no bids were submitted was incorrect. MRVC extended the submission deadline several times, most recently from 3 August to 3 September 2026. However, before that deadline, the Ministry of Railways of India cancelled the tender, opting instead to procure the rolling stock directly from domestic plants belonging to national operator Indian Railways.
India’s Ministry of Railways has now opted to buy directly from domestic manufacturers, cutting delivery times sharply: the prototype, originally due in 2030 under the tender, is now expected by 2027, with the full fleet in service by 2030 rather than 2034.
RCF has already built the first Vande Metro, which has been running in India for almost two years (pictured). Each 12-car train seats 1,150 of its 3,208 passengers, runs at up to 130 km/h by design — though the route speed is capped at 110 km/h — and features a widened aisle between seats.
