India's BHEL and TRSL Sign Joint Venture Agreement to Maintain 80 Sleeper Trainsets for 35 Years

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 16, India's state-owned engineering enterprise Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) and Titagarh Rail Systems Limited (TRSL) signed a joint venture agreement to establish a 50:50 joint venture company responsible for comprehensive maintenance of 80 Vande Bharat sleeper trainsets after delivery. The joint venture will undertake full lifecycle maintenance of the trains over a maintenance period of 35 years.

The 80 Vande Bharat sleeper trainsets come from a manufacturing and maintenance contract previously jointly awarded to the two companies by Indian Railways. The BHEL-led consortium won the order for 80 trains in 2023, with a total contract value exceeding 230 billion rupees, excluding taxes, of which the train supply portion is approximately 96 billion rupees, with the remainder corresponding to 35 years of maintenance services. The two parties subsequently signed a formal manufacturing and maintenance agreement with Indian Railways, with the scope of work covering design, manufacturing, testing, commissioning, and supply of 80 sleeper trainsets, as well as subsequent long-term maintenance.

According to Titagarh's disclosure, the newly established joint venture company is planned to be registered in New Delhi, with BHEL and Titagarh each holding 50% of the paid-up equity capital and having equal governance rights. Indian Railways has already allocated two trainset maintenance depots at Shakur Basti in Delhi and Jogeshwari in Mumbai for the long-term maintenance task, and the joint venture will subsequently use these two depots as core facilities to carry out train overhaul and full lifecycle maintenance.

The manufacturing side remains the responsibility of the BHEL-Titagarh consortium. The two parties need to complete the manufacturing, testing, and commissioning of the 80 trains, with final assembly arranged at Indian Railways' Integral Coach Factory in Chennai and related manufacturing facilities in Latur. The contract requires a design speed of 176 km/h and an operating speed of 160 km/h. After all 80 trainsets are manufactured, the long-term maintenance business will be undertaken by the joint venture established this time.

Titagarh previously disclosed that its corresponding share in this 35-year maintenance contract is approximately 70.26 billion rupees, which will be executed in the new joint venture. The maintenance business is expected to generate recurring revenue, covering train overhaul, system maintenance, critical component condition management, and long-term operational support.

Manufacturing work on the project has already entered the substantive execution stage. In January 2026, BHEL began supplying semi-high-speed under-slung traction converters and traction transformers for the Vande Bharat sleeper train project, indicating that key electrical systems have entered the supply stage. Following the signing of this joint venture agreement, the project has formed a complete execution chain of "train manufacturing and key equipment supply—train delivery—35-year long-term maintenance."