Equipment from banned vendors impacting maintenance of coaches, engines: Railway Board

New Delhi, Oct 9 (PTI) The Railway Board has cautioned all its zones and production units to procure equipment for the maintenance of coaches, wagons and engines only from approved vendors and that all the vendor approving agencies should maintain an updated list.

The Board, in a letter dated October 8, 2025, said that procuring equipment from de-listed vendors are adversely impacting the maintenance of train services.

"A Higher Administrative Grade-level committee, while inquiring into a railway accident, observed that one of the factors adversely impacting proper maintenance of rolling stock is granting repeated extensions of delivery period, even after the contractor had been temporarily de-listed by the vendor approving agency," the letter said.

It added, "The matter has been viewed with concern by the Railway Board. Railway Board has already instructed that only the directory of approved vendors maintained by vendor approving agencies on UVAM (Unified Vendor Approval Module) shall be considered as valid directory for all purposes by all stakeholders." The Board directed all procuring entities to ensure compliance of its instructions while taking any procurement-related decision, including consideration of request for delivery period extension.

According to the Railway Board, the role of vendor approving agencies is very critical in ensuring an updated list of vendors on UVAM.

It further ordered the vendor approving agencies to ensure that whenever a decision is taken regarding temporary de-listing or banning of a vendor that results in stoppage of supplies, its name should be removed from the list of approved vendors without delay, so that the informed procurement decision is appropriately taken. PTI JP JP RUK RUK