L&T, Tata & DRA Win Chennai Metro’s 29 Underground Station Work

Larsen & Toubro, Tata Projects and Dineshchandra R Agrawal Infracon today emerged as the lowest bidders for 5 underground station packages (UG01 to UG05) of Chennai’s new 45.81 km Line-3 after Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) opened financial bids.

L&T scored 3 packages (UG03, UG04, UG05) with 16 stations between KMC to Taramani Road Junction, while Tata Projects and DRA Infracon bagged one package each with 7 (UG01) and 6 (UG02) stations respectively.

Line-3 of the 118.9 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 project will connect Madhavaram Milk Colony and SIPCOT via 49 stations. Within that, 29 stations between Madhavaram and Taramani Road Junction will be built underground and connected to each other by tunneling packages TU-01 and TU-02, which were awarded to Tata Projects and Larsen & Toubro in May 2021.

CMRL invited tenders for all 5 station packages in November 2020 with deadlines ranging between 4 to 4.7 years. Technical bids were opened in July to reveal the same 3 firms had submitted a total of 13 bids.

The brief scope of each indicates the contractor(s) will be responsible for entire civil works at 21 stations and partial civil works at 8 stations. Note: DRA might have bid in a JV with Hindustan Construction Company

Package UG-01 (Madhavaram to Perambur)

Financial Bid Values:

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
Tata Projects	1294.13
L&T	1490.17
DRA Infracon	1552.02

This package with a 1460 day (4 year) completion deadline includes entire civil work at 5 stations and partial works at 2 stations.

Brief Scope: Construction of five (05) underground stations at Thapalpetti, Moolakadai, Sembiyam, Perambur Market and Perambur Metro and Crossover at Sembiyam and works other than diaphragm wall of two underground stations at Madhavaram Milk Colony and Murari

Package UG-02 (Ayanavaram to Kellys)

Financial Bid Values:

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
DRA Infracon	1479.00
L&T	1510.27
Tata Projects	1536.23

This package with a 1550 day completion deadline includes entire civil work at 4 stations and partial works at 2 stations. A proposed station at Doveton Junction was dropped.

Brief Scope: Construction of four (04) underground stations at Otteri, Pattalam, Perambur Barracks Road and Kellys and works other than diaphragm wall of two underground stations at Ayanavaram & Puraisaiwakkam High Road cum Crossover Box

Package UG-03 (KMC to Royapettah)

Financial Bid Values:

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
L&T	1872.00
Tata Projects	1975.28

This package with a 1725 day (4.7 years) completion deadline includes entire civil work at 5 stations and partial works at 2 stations. The new station-box at KMC (Kilpauk) will form an interchange with the 22 km Green Line (Line-2) which connects Chennai Central and St. Thomas Mount, while a new station box at Thousand Lights will form an interchange with the 23.10 km Blue Line (Line-1) which currently connects Chennai Airport and Washermanpet.

Brief Scope: Construction of five (05) underground stations at KMC, Sterling Road Junction, Nangambakkam, Gemini, Thousand Lights and Thousand Lights Crossover and works other than diaphragm wall of two underground stations at Royapettah Govt. Hospital & Chetpet Metro

Package UG-04 (Radhakrishnan to Adyar Junction)

Financial Bid Values:

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
L&T	1944.00
Tata Projects	2040.17

This package with a 1725 day (4.7 years) completion deadline includes entire civil work at 4 stations with partial works at 1 station (Greenways). Thirumayilai will serve as an interchange with Phase 2’s new 26.09 km Line-4 (Light House – Poonamallee Bus Depot).

Brief Scope: Construction of five (05) underground stations at Radhakrishanan Salai Jn, Thirumayilai Metro, Mandaiveli, Greenways Road (with part diaphragm wall), Adyar Jn and two cross passage shafts and one emergency escape shaft

• Completion Period: 1725 days (4.7 years)
• Bids Received: 2

Package UG-05 (Adyar Depot – Taramani Link Road Ramp)

Financial Bid Values:

Firm	Bid (Rs. Crore)
L&T	1062.00
Tata Projects	1085.30
DRA Infracon	1096.04

This package with a 1725 day (4.7 year) completion deadline includes entire civil work at 3 stations, partial works at 1 station and one ramp leading to the elevated section towards SIPCOT.

Brief Scope: Construction of three (03) underground stations at Adyar Depot, Indira Nagar and Taramani Road Jn and Ramp and works other than diaphragm wall of underground station station Thiruvanmiyur Metro

CMRL’s estimate for all 5 packages is unknown to me, so it’s impossible to gauge how the lowest bids are placed and the chances of LOAs getting issued.

If awarded, Tata Projects will be handling all tunneling works for TU-01 (Venugopal Nagar to Kellys) and build half of its stations on UG01, while L&T will have a sweet overlap between tunneling package TU-02 and the 16 stations en route between KMC to Taramani Road Junction (UG03 to UG05).

A list of Phase 2’s civil & system packages and their status can be viewed here.

For more updates, check out the Chennai section or my Home Page!

– TMRG