Chennai Metro Rail has begun taking steps to order the next batch of driverless trains for the phase II project coming up in the city.
For the 116-km phase II project that is being constructed in the city with three corridors — Madhavaram to SIPCOT, Light House to Poonamallee and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur — a total of 138 three-coach trains will be required.
The first contract to manufacture 36 trains went to Alstom Transport India Limited at a cost of ₹1,215.92 crore and the production of the first driverless train for Chennai Metro Rail system took off in February.
Now, the Chennai Metro Rail has once again floated bids for the manufacture of 32 three-coach trains. Initially, Chennai Metro Rail had planned on leasing some of the trains for phase II to bring down the capital cost, but the plan was changed later. Now, the officials have gone ahead and called for tenders for production of these trains.
According to the officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), it will take nearly 5-6 months to finalise the contract and award it to a firm after which the production will begin. “The firm chosen will get about two years’ time to deliver the trains. This time, the firm which bags the contract will also have to carry out comprehensive maintenance work for a 15-year period. We are doing this to save cost on buying spares and other items at a later date,” an official said.
While the trains which are presently running in the 54-km phase I network in the city have four coaches, in the phase II project, the authorities planned two types of driverless trains — three-coach and six-coach trains. Though six-coach trains will be manufactured at a later point in time, officials said, in case there is a sharp spike in demand, two three-coach trains will be coupled and operated as six-coach ones. These trains will travel at an average speed of 32 kmph. Once the entire phase II project becomes fully functional, these trains are likely to run an average of 1,50,000 km per year.
Published - March 04, 2024 09:56 pm IST
