Three big firms — Alstom Transport, BEML Limited and Titagarh Wagons — are in the running to build 26 trains for a section of the Metro’s phase II project.
The construction of the phase II project, comprising the Madhavaram-SIPCOT, Poonamallee-Light House and Madhavaram-Shollinganallur corridors, has been in progress for a few months now, and the process of ordering trains has already begun as companies will need a few years to manufacture them.
The State government said the whole project would be finished in five years.
According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), they floated tenders last year calling for bidders to produce coaches, and plan to finalise the contractor by the end of this month.
Similarly, the process is already underway for the Madhavaram to CMBT and Madhavaram to Shollinganallur sections.
Standardised coaches
Though they have invited separate bids for different stretches, trains manufactured by each company will be standardised and operated on the entire 118.9-km length of the phase II project.
“The chosen firm will have to build 26 three-coach driverless trains within three years. They will deliver the prototype in two years, and after various quality checks and standardisations, the final products will be delivered in another year. There has been no discussion on the colour of the trains yet; it may remain the same or may change. But trains in phase II cannot run in the phase I tracks as they will function based on different signalling systems,” an official said.
The phase I and phase II trains have some differences. While the existing trains have four coaches, the new ones will have three.
Phase II trains will run on a communications-based train control signalling system while phase I trains are operated with a distance-to-go signalling system.
