Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) has cancelled the tenders floated for manufacturing trains for its Phase II project. This is one more addition to the long list of tenders cancelled by the CMRL.
Last year, CMRL invited bids for providing trains (78 coaches or 26 three-coach trains) to be run on the Poonamallee-Light House line, one of the three corridors of the Phase II project.
Already, six tenders for building underground stations in the Phase II project were cancelled recently and floated again as the bidders submitted an inflated cost. According to CMRL officials, the bids for trains had to be cancelled for “administrative reasons”.
Sources said this had to be done because the depot in Poonamallee — where the trains will be stationed for trials and tested — and the Poonamallee-Power House line might not be ready by then.
“It will take two years to manufacture these 26 trains. If we award the contract now, the trains will arrive in 24 months but we may not have the depot ready by then. It may take about three years to finish the depot construction. This means there will be other expenses for delay in maintenance and testing. So we thought it best to cancel the tender. We have floated fresh tender and we may find a contractor in the next three or four months,” a source said.
Apart from this tender, an expression of interest for procuring 42 trains through PPP mode has been cancelled as the CMRL was not satisfied with the response. Sources said a consultant may be hired for offering suggestions to execute this project.
