Alstom to begin work on 10 new trains for Chennai metro in April

CHENNAI: French train manufacturer Alstom will start work in April, at the plant in Sricity, on 10 new trains for the 10km North Chennai metro line.

Alain Spohr, Alstom managing director, India and South Asia, said the 10 new trains would have more components sourced in India, including the stainless steel for the outer shell and power supply cabinets, compared to the 42 trains made for phase-1.“We will deliver the last train set for Chennai metro by February 2020,” he said.
Stainless steel outer shell arrives at the car
At present, 70% of the components are sourced from domestic players, while major components such as the stainless steel are imported from Japan and Europe.
On Thursday, the company handed over the last of the 42 trains for the 45km phase-1 of Chennai metro and flagged off the last of the 22-train set for the Sydney metro.
The delivery of the last of the 42 trains comes at a time when CMRL has started trial runs on the last leg of the 45km phase-1, between AG-DMS and Washermenpet covering 10km. On Thursday, state industries minister MC Sampath inspected AG-DMS metro station prior to the trial run.
Electrical components including the traction system, cables and wheelset are installed under the body of the coach in the fitting shop
Chennai Metro has several unique features installed for passenger comfort including luggage compartments, as the network will take commuters to the airport and railways stations at central and Egmore. “Chennai metro is probably the only metro to have a special first-class coach. They wanted a customised layout and we provided it,” Spohr said.
With several new projects including metro trains for Montreal and Mumbai ready to hit the shop floor in 2019, the Alstom head said they were also hoping to compete for the contract to build trains for CMRL’s ambitious 107.55km phase-2 project.
“We heard CMRL was discussing with JICA to have a tied loan, which means trains will come from Japan in return for the loan. But their price will be high. We got an indication that our customer (CMRL) was willing to reopen the competition, in which case we would be more than happy to participate,” Spohr said.