Bids Reinvited for Chennai Metro Phase 2’s 96 Coach Contract ARE04A

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) on Wednesday re-invited bids for procuring 32 new train-sets for the 116.1 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 project under package ARE04A.

2.9m wide coaches from this rolling stock contract will operated on standard gauge tracks as 32 train-sets of 3 cars with a configuration: DMC+TC+DMC where DMC = Driving Motor Car and TC = Trailer Car.

CMRL was originally planning to lease 42 trains of 3 cars each for lines 3 & 5 for a period of 39 years. In November 2021, they received just one application from Titagarh Wagons, which wasn’t considered as a positive response and led to CMRL suspending their plans.

They’ve now re-invited bids to procure 32 trains funded through local Tamil Nadu government state funds. These trains haven’t been designated for any particular line or corridor of the project, and will be stabled at either Madhavaram (lines 3 & 5), Semmancheri (Line-3) or Poonamalee (Line-4) depots.

• Estimate: N/A
• Contract Period: 1300 days + 730 days (DNP) + 15 Years (CMC)
• Pre-Bid Meeting: March 15, 2024 at 11 am
• Bid Submission Deadline: May 15, 2024 at 3 PM
• Technical Bid Opening: May 16, 2024 at 3 PM

CMRL’s Brief Scope: Design, Manufacture, Supply, Testing, Commissioning, Training of Personnel and Comprehensive Maintenance Contract for Fifteen (15) years of Standard Gauge Metro Rolling Stock (Electric Multiple Units)

Per the tender documents, the winner must manufacture, test and deliver the first 3-coach prototype train within 630 days (1.7 years) from the ‘Commencement Date’ listed in the contract.

The next 6 trains have to be delivered in 840 days, next 6 trains in 900 days, next 6 trains in 960 days, next 6 trains in 1020 days, and the final 7 trains in 1090 days (3 years) from the ‘Commencement Date’.

Each 3 coach train will be 22,600 mm long and 2900mm wide making them narrower than Phase 1’s 3200mm wide Alstom trains. To give you an idea, they’ll be similar in width to Jaipur Metro & Delhi Metro’s violet & green lines’ BEML trains.

Each train will have a capacity for 980 passengers and be equipped with 8 dynamic route map displays above the doors to show direction of travel, current location of the trains, next station and other important information in Tamil and English. 6 other displays must be included for advertisement purposes.

The trains will be capable of sustaining a maximum operating speed of 80kmph and have a design speed of 90 kmph. Interestingly the documents note that CMRL plans to operate trains on GoA4 “driverless” unattended train operations (UTO) mode right from start of commercial operations. Whether that happens or not, we’ll find out around 2027.

With this development, here’s a status of Phase 2’s three rolling stock contracts through which CMRL will acquire a total of 414 coaches. Each package has gone through one retender (designated by ‘A’ in the new package title).

Line & Coaches	Package & Status
Lines 3 & 5 (210)	ARE02A: Bids Re-invited in July 2023
Line 4 (108)	ARE03A: Alstom started production in February 2024
Lines 3, 4 & 5 (96)	ARE04A: Bids Re-invited in February 2024 (this post!)

A list of all Chennai Metro Phase 2 civil & system packages and their status can be viewed here.

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– TMRG