Indore Metro’s 1st Alstom Train Arrives at Gandhi Nagar Depot

Madhya Pradesh Metro Rail Co Ltd (MPMRCL) on Thursday received their first Alstom Movia train-set for the 33.53 km Indore Metro Phase 1 project at Gandhi Nagar Depot.

The 3-coach train (serial TS-01) was designed at Alstom’s engineering centre in Hyderabad and manufactured at their rolling stock facility in Savli, Gujarat.

This train-set is part of a larger 156 coach rolling stock and Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signaling contract, combined with Bhopal Metro, which was awarded to Alstom Transport in July 2022. The Rs. 3248 crore contract has a 4.18 year deadline and includes 15 years of comprehensive maintenance for rolling stock and 7 years of maintenance for CBTC signaling.

Alstom had formally launched manufacturing activities in Savli in March 2023 and built the first-train in a record time of 14.5 months from MPMRCL’s Notice to Proceed.

Indore Metro’s Gandhi Nagar Depot will stable 25 trains (75 coaches) to service the 33.53 km Yellow Line which will form a ring line around Indore city connecting Palasia – Railway Station – Rajwara- Airport – Bhawarsala. Images of the depot under construction in March by K.S.M. Bashir Mohd. and Sons can be viewed here.

MPMRCL will operate their 3 coach Movia train-sets in formations of DMC+TC+DMC where DMC = Driving Motor Car and TC = Trailer Car.

These ultramodern, light-weight trains have a top speed of 80 km/hour and have a 50-passenger seating & 300 standing capacity per coach.

Indore Metro’s design is essentially similar to Kanpur and Agra metros’ Movia trainsets with modifications to the color-scheme and addition of an additional light below the headlight.

In the coming days, MPMRCL will assemble all 3 coaches, conduct static tests, and then dynamic tests on the test track with an aim to launch trial runs on the main-line by mid-September.

The second train-set is expected to be delivered to Bhopal Metro’s Subhash Nagar Depot by September 20. That depot will eventually stable 27 train-sets to serve the under construction 14.99 km Purple Line (Karond Circle – AIIMS) and upcoming 12.88 km Blue Line (Bhadbhada Square – Ratnagiri Tiraha). A cool mock-up coach was unveiled at Smart City Park in Bhopal last week.

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– TMRG