Alstom has been awarded a contract to supply traction components and maintenance services for Vande Bharat sleeper trains in India.

The contract is worth €144 million (approx. INR 1285 cr).

Under the contract, Alstom will supply Mitrac traction components and other electrical equipment for seventeen Vande Bharat Sleeper trainsets, totalling 408 cars.

Alstom will supply the systems to Indian Railways’ Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Perambur in Chennai. The ICF was established in 1955, and is both owned and operated by Indian Railways. It is the largest rail coach manufacturer in the world.

Alstom will install the equipment in twenty-four-car sleeper trainsets on the Vande Bharat platform. These trains are designed to run at 160 km/h, with a maximum speed of 180 km/h.

Under the contract, Alstom will also maintain the traction and major electric equipment, providing both preventive and corrective maintenance.

The company will also provide support services. Alstom will provide these services for a period of five years, starting in 2029, at various railway depots.

Alstom India has worked with Indian Railways previously, having built more than one hundred locomotives for the operator.

Last year, Alstom delivered the first of the fifty-two trainsets that it is building for the Delhi Metro.

In India, Alstom has sites at Bangalore, Savli (bogies), Coimbatore and Maneja (bogies and traction equipment). It will carry out the work for this contract at the Maneja site. It expects to begin delivery of a prototype by August 2026. This will be followed by serial production, which is cheduled to start in 2027.

Alstom established its site in Maneja in 1996. It operates more than twenty projects, and has a total capacity of 900,000 worker-hours in two shifts.

“The Vande Bharat trains represent the modern face of rail-based mobility in India, and it is a matter of pride for us to yet again partner with Indian Railways in furthering their vision.”

Olivier Loison, Managing Director, Alstom India