All nine trains from Sao Paulo in Brazil for Chennai Metro Rail will arrive in the city by December 2013 to be a part of a trial run scheduled to take place then.
Officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said Alstom Transport, which has been given the contract to manufacture 42 trains for Chennai Metro, will produce nine at Sao Paulo in Brazil and the rest 33 at Sri City plant in Andhra Pradesh.
While the second train’s production is complete, the third one has reached the final stages, an official said. After tests are conducted on both these trains and approvals given, the trains will be shipped and are expected to arrive by mid-August, he said.
“The car shells have already been produced for the next four trains and work on the last two is also progressing. A month after the second and third train arrive in August, the next two could arrive. We have scheduled it in such a way that we get the trains in batches of two, each with a month’s gap after they are completed. So, by December all nine will be ready for the trial run,” the official added.
Just two weeks ago, the first train arrived at the city’s port, 36 days after it was shipped from Sao Paulo. Subsequently, it was taken to the depot in Koyambedu – that will house the Operation Control Centre, coming up in an area of about 26 hectares at a cost of Rs. 198.1 crore.
A few months after the trial run, in 2014, Chennai Metro is expected to be operational in the 11-km stretch between Koyambedu and St. Thomas Mount.
