Alstom Wins 40 Coach & Electrical Contract for Chennai & Jaipur Metro

Alstom this weekend announced the completion of its first all-electric locomotive from its new Madhepur facility in Bihar. Within that announcement, they revealed that they’ve won three new system-related contracts worth about 75 million euros (roughly Rs. 600.03 crores) for Mumbai, Chennai and Jaipur’s metro systems.

In another significant development, Alstom announced three new contracts worth approximately €75 million – power supply contract from the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL), contract for new train sets from Chennai Metro Rail Corporation and another power supply contract from Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation. This development shows Alstom’s growing footprint in the country, in both the urban space as well as the mainline space.
– Alstom’s Press Release

News on Mumbai Metro Line-3’s electrification contract was covered earlier over here – Alstom & L&T Awarded Mumbai Metro Line-3’s Electrification Contracts

According to an Alstom spokesperson who I got in touch with, Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) recently placed an order for 10 new Metropolis train-sets (40 coaches) to join their existing fleet of 42 train-sets (168 coaches).

Bids for these additional train-sets were never invited by CMRL, so it appears that CMRL exercised the option for procuring 4 additional train-sets, something that was built into the original contract signed in 2010, and on top of that ordered another 6 train-sets for a grand total of 10 new train-sets (40 new coaches). So Alstom didn’t “win” this contract in a competitive bidding process per se, but received a direct order.

All 40 coaches will be built at Alstom’s facility in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh which is just about 90 kms away from Chennai. Post delivery, they’ll either be housed at the Koyambedu Depot or at the upcoming elevated Wimco Nagar Depot which has been designed for light cleaning work with 17 stabling lines to support the 8.6 km Phase 1 extension project.

One of Alstom’s 42 Metropolis train-sets in Chennai – Photo Copyright: Indian Express

In Jaipur, Alstom won a electrification contract for the 2.35 km Chandpol – Badi Chaupur underground section’s 25 kV AC OHE traction and power supply works. Bids for that were invited in June 2016. Here’s some info –

Contract: NCB No. JP/EW/1B/E2
Scope: Design, Detail Engineering, Manufacture, Supply, Installation, Testing and Commissioning of 25 KV AC Traction (Rigid OHE), 33 KV Auxiliary Sub Stations (ASS), Associated Cabling and SCADA Systems for Underground Corridors of Jaipur Mass Rapid Transport System Project Phase-1B at Jaipur, Rajasthan, India

Tunneling work for this small section started in late-2015 and was completed in mid-2017. Ideally the bidding process for this electrification contract should have started right after the civil contract was awarded to CEC-CICI in 2013 and not an entire 3 years later – which just injects another reason for delaying the project beyond its March 2018 deadline.

For more updates, check out the Chennai & Jaipur sections of The Metro Rail Guy!

– TMRG