3 Bidders for Chennai Metro Phase 2’s 1st Rolling Stock Contract
Alstom Transport, BEML and Titagarh Wagons are the 3 firms that have submitted bids to supply 78 coaches for Chennai Metro Line-4’s package ARE03 after Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) today opened technical bids.
26 3-car trains on this line of the 118.9 km Phase 2 project will service Poonamallee Bypass – Light House through 28 (18 elevated & 10 underground) stations, and be stabled & maintained at Poonamallee Depot in western Chennai.
CMRL plans to run these trains in a DMC + TC + DMC configuration with the ability to operate at Grade of Automation level-4 for “driverless” Unattended Train Operations (UTO).
CMRL invited tenders for this rolling stock package in December 2020 with an unknown estimate and contract duration of 1340 days + 730 days (Defect Notification Period).
Package: Phase – II / ARE03
Brief Scope: Design, manufacture, supply, testing, commissioning of standard gauge metro rolling stock (electrical multiple units) and training of personnel for Chennai Metro Project Phase II
Interesting to see Titgarh bidding. After winning Pune’s 102 coach contract, I’ve only seen them participate in Mumbai’s Monorail tender.
Anyhow, the bids have now been sent for technical evaluation which can take a couple months to complete. When that is done, the financial bids of the technically qualified bidders will be opened to reveal who’s the lowest bidder and most likely supplier.
For Phase 2’s 3 corridors, CMRL in the past has revealed they are looking procure 288 coaches and wet-lease 126 coaches to run services. Here’s a table with all 3 rolling stock packages:
| Line | Coaches to be Procured | Coaches to be Leased |
| Line-3 & Line-5 | 210 (Package ARE02) | 126 (Package ARE04) |
| Line-4 | 78 (Package ARE03) | none |
Package ARE02’s current bid opening date is November 23 while ARE04’s bid opening date is October 29. A list of all Chennai Metro Phase 2 tenders (civil, systems) and their status can be viewed here.
For more updates, check out the Chennai section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
CRRC ?
Fortunately they aren’t there. Only BMRCL does terrible things like awarding contracts to CRRC when BEML has a factory in Bengaluru
Hello TMRG,
I have been following you for a long time since Jan 2016. I have recently noticed that the website now focuses more on only the tender process as in when it was floated and who won it.
I do miss the days back in 2016 where you used to post about the tunneling progress of namma metro every month. Or infact give your insights about when will that section start given its station construction completion rate.
Even now we have tunneling going on in 3 major metro cities and I wish for your insights more often rather than just bid detail posts.
Thank you.
Hey Nilay – thanks for the feedback!
Posts like these are beneficial to the industry (I have followers on LinkedIn as well) and to fans who are interested in behind-the-scenes stuff.
I’m doing the best I can with the time I can dedicate to the site, and I definitely need to find the right balance between status updates & the bidding process. If you have any specific questions related to progress, just leave a comment or connect via mail.
Hey tmrg!
When will they finalize l&t and HCC KEC jv for line five. Last month they opened financial bids!
Also bids for line 3s srp tools to Sholinganallur section and Sholinganallur to sipcot section should have been opened now right?
Hi – will write a post or add an update to the financial bid opening post whenever LOA is handed. I’m also waiting for Taramani – SIPCOT’s financial bids to be opened. Will post an update whenever it is.
Gr8!
Hey TMRG, on a slightly related note, I think BMRCL invited EOIs for rolling stock for the Pink and Blue lines. Are there any updates on that?
Hey – haven’t heard anything on that