Alstom Wins Mumbai Metro Line-4’s Signaling & PSD Contract

Alstom Transport today emerged as the lowest bidder for supplying the signalling, train control and platform screen door system to Mumbai Metro’s 32.32 km Line-4 and 2.88 km Line-4A (Green Line) after Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) opened financial bids.

This is the 2nd significant systems contract of this elevated line (Wadala – Kasarvadavali – Gaimukh) after the 234 coach rolling stock contract which was originally won by Bombardier Transportation but post-acquisition is now under Alstom’s belt. Alstom will supply 39 six coach MOVIA product trains out of its plant in Savli, Gujarat.

MMRDA had invited bids for the signaling & PSD package in April 2020 with a completion deadline of 137 weeks. Technical bids were opened in September 2020 to reveal 4 bidders, and among them Bombardier Transportation’s bid wasn’t opened as they either got disqualified (unlikely) or they withdrew their bid following the acquisition.

April 20 Update: Financial bid values are now available. Huge difference between L1 and L2:

Firm	Bid
Alstom Transport Ltd.	Rs. 443 crore
Hitachi Rail STS India Pvt. Ltd.	Rs. 568 crore
Siemens India Ltd.	Rs. 599 crore

Contract: MMRDA/4 & 4A/CA72

Scope: Design, Manufacture, Supply, Installation, Testing, and Commissioning of Signalling and Train Control including Platform Screen Doors system for Main Line and Depot of Line 4 and Its Extension Corridor (Wadala – Kasarvadavali – Gaimukh) of Mumbai Metro Rail Project of MMRDA

If and when awarded, this will be Alstom’s 3rd signaling win in Mumbai. Prior to this, they were awarded Line-2A & Line-7’s combined signaling contract from MMRDA and Line-3’s signaling contract from MMRC in 2018.

In all these lines, including Line-4 & 4A, Alstom will deploy their Urbalis 400 CBTC (Communications Based Train Control) solution to enable high frequency train operations with unattended train operations (UTO) or driverless operations in the future, if desired.

Here’s my go-to video comparing the old distance-to-go (fixed block) signaling with CBTC signaling:

Platform screen doors (PSDs) with half-height will be installed on all 34 elevated stations of Line-4 (32) and its Line-4A extension (2) for passenger safety to primarily prevent accidents during passenger movement. Installation work for these on Line-2/7 just started in February.

For more updates, check out my Home Page!

– TMRG