DMRC Awarded Chennai Metro Phase 2’s Operations & Maintenance Contract

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) on Wednesday awarded Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) with a Rs. 5870 crore contract for the operations & maintenance (O&M) of 116.1 km Chennai Metro Phase 2 project for a period of 12 years.

Chennai Metro’s Phase 2 was approved by the Central Government’s Cabinet in October 2024 but has been well under construction since May 2021. The project includes the construction of 3 new metro lines, with a mix of underground & elevated routes, and 125 stations from an original number of 128.

• Line-3: Madhavaram to SIPCOT (45.4 km with 49 stations)
• Line-4: Light House to Poonamalle Bypass (26.1 km with 28 stations)
• Line-5: Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (44.6 km with 48 stations)

This O&M contract aims to enhance efficiency and service quality across the entire Phase 2 network for services to passengers and asset maintenance. This would typically involve overseeing day-to-day operations, maintenance, customer service, managing station facilities, train schedules and implementing safety protocols for smooth passenger experience.

CMRL had invited bids for this contract in August 2024 with a 12 year contract date that would start from the commencement date of the final section/stage of Phase 2. It includes a provision to extend the contract by 3 years in case of satisfactory performance by DMRC.

Technical bids were opened on March 7 to reveal 2 bidders – Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC) and Deutsche Bahn International Operations GmbH (DB IO), and their financial bids were opened on March 11 to reveal DMRC as the lowest bidder.

Financial Bid Values

Firm	Bid (crore)
DMRC	5870.00
DB IO	7654.64

Brief Scope: Selection of the “Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Contractor for Chennai Metro Rail Phase II -Corridor-3 ((Madhavaram Milk Colony to Siruseri SIPCOT-II Metro), Corridor- 4 (Lighthouse to Poonamallee Bypass) and Corridor-5 (Madhavaram Milk Colony to Sholinganallur), including Maintenance Depots at Madhavaram, Poonamallee & Semmancheri”

This is DMRC’s third O&M contract after Noida Metro’s Aqua Line (signed in August 2016) and Mumbai Metro’s Aqua Line (awarded in April 2023).

Coming back to Chennai, its 116 km Phase 2 like other metro projects is planned to be operationalized in stages. Among them Line-4’s roughly 7.9 km Poonamallee Bypass – Porur section, built by HCC – KEC JV, will be the first to open which I reckon will happen no sooner than Q1 2026. Train testing on a small 2 km section (Poonamallee Depot to Mullaithottam Station) began last month.

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– TMRG