Tata Steel, India’s leading steel manufacturer, has signed an agreement with the Indian Railways to manufacture at least 22 Vande Bharat Express trains, India’s fastest and most feature-rich trains, in the coming year. The Ministry of Railways aims to manufacture a total of 200 Vande Bharat trains over the next two years and launch the first sleeper version by the first quarter of 2024.

To expedite production, Indian Railways has signed an agreement with Tata Steel on various schemes. As part of the agreement, Tata Steel will manufacture seats for the Vande Bharat Express, from first AC to three-tier coaches. The company has also been contracted to make Linke Hofmann Busch (LHB) coaches for the train, which includes structures of panels, windows, and railways of the trains.

A tender worth approximately Rs 145 crore has been awarded to the multinational steel company for the manufacture of train parts. The manufacturing process will take 12 months.

Tata Steel's composites division has already begun work on the seating system for the Vande Bharat Express, which consists of 22 train sets with 16 coaches each. According to Debashish Bhattacharya, Vice President of Tata Steel's Technology and New Materials Business, the seats have been specially designed to rotate up to 180 degrees and include passenger amenities similar to those found on planes, marking the first time such features have been incorporated into Indian trains.