Alstom may manufacture trains for a section of the Phase II project of the Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL). The firm has emerged as the lowest bidder for building 78 coaches or 26 trains for the stretch from Poonamallee to Light House in the Phase II project, sources said. Alstom made the trains for CMRL’s Phase I project.
According to officials of CMRL, the firm will produce three-coach trains and will be given a little more than two years.
“Though this tender had to be finalised a few months ago, there were some issues that had to be ironed out. Fresh tenders were floated and Alstom was the lowest bidder. We will formally award the contract to the firm within a few weeks,” an official said.
These three-coach trains whose length will be about 66 metres, can carry about 900 passengers at a time. This is in contrast to Phase I project trains where CMRL opted for four-coach trains with a capacity of 1,200 people.
Although the capacity seems lower, the CMRL plans to add three more coaches to make them six-coach trains.
Train manufacturing contracts for the other two remaining stretches — Madhavaram to SIPCOT and Madhavaram to Shollinganallur — have not been awarded. This is because Poonamallee to Light House stretch has been given priority and will be launched first followed by the other two.
L&T wins bid
Two more contracts have been finalised now for the Phase II project. For the elevated stretch from Nehru Nagar to Shollinganallur (a part of the Madhavaram to SIPCOT stretch) and for supply and installation of track work for Madhavaram to SIPCOT and Madhavaram to Shollinganallur, Larsen and Toubro has emerged as the lowest bidder.
Sources said CMRL will soon finalise the the bids for these lines.
