Kinet Railway Solutions, the Indo-Russian joint venture, to manufacture 1,920 semi-high speed Vande Bharat coaches, has approached multiple banks, including Russia’s Sber Bank – amongst the largest there - for financing the first phase of its capex at the Latur facility in Maharashtra, officials aware told businessline.
The starting investment into Vande Bharat production has been lined up with mix of Equity and Debt. And loans sought could be in the range of $ 200 million, they said.
Initial capex plans will include procurements for the existing facilities at the Maharashtra unit.
Kinet were not available for comments.
Kinet, is a JV between India’s Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), a Railways-owned undertaking, and the Russian engineering company Metrowagonmash and Locomotive Electronic Systems (LES), in a 25:70:5 ratio. It will be manufacturing these new semi-high speed trains (Vande Bharat).
According to its terms of incorporation, in Sep 2023, the JV has a manufacturing and maintenance contract for Vande Bharat trainsets. The contract includes upgrading government manufacturing units and trainset depots.
The trainset design remodelling and apparent change in train configurations had led to some added discussions between teams of the project over the last few months.
A senior Railway official said: “Issues with Kinet have been resolved.”
The second official said, Kinet has been handed over the Latur facility and the company will be making “further investments” in the facility constructed by RVNL. For instance, the shed has capacity for 16 coaches but will now have to accommodate “at least 24” which will require further capex. Similarly, material procurement for construction of prototypes is expected to start soon.
“Capex plans are underway,” the second official said adding: “loans are being sought too to start operations”.
Design and Costs
One of the two Railway officials in the know said there were discussions that Mock-up is ready and meetings in this regard are underway.
In railway parlance, mockup of a train is a model that helps designers visualize and test their ideas for a design, functionality, and aesthetic. Mockups can be full-size or scale models.
The first prototype is likely in end 2026 only.
The average cost per train set is ₹120 crore odd.
However, there are some apprehensions around cost negotiations as design changes may be incorporated and production timing could be extended.
Added scope of work clause is being discussed at different levels.
Some data has been exchanged, the same is under consideration by the Ministry (Railways) or Railway Board.
The Indo-Russian JV for design, manufacture and maintenance of Vande Bharat’s could feature prominent during President Putin’s India visit and as a success story of the diplomatic ties between the two nations.