INDIA: Chennai Metro Rail Limited has selected Alstom Transport to supply 42 four-car trains for the two-line metro network which is now under construction.

The contract awarded on August 2 is worth Rs14·7bn, and includes the supply and commissioning of 168 vehicles along with associated spare parts, specialist tools and staff training.

According to CMRL, each four-car trainset will have space for a total of 1 276 seated and standing passengers, with a first class area in the driving cars and two wheelchair spaces per set. The stainless-steel cars will have twin-leaf sliding doors and gangways between the coaches. The interiors will feature air-conditioning, electronic route maps, a public address system, emergency intercoms and CCTV.

The 1 435 mm gauge metro will be electrified at 25 kV and the units will be equipped for regenerative braking. They will have three-phase AC traction drives giving a maximum speed of 90 km/h, although service speed will be limited to 80 km/h with 3 min headways.

Provision will be made for lengthening each unit to six cars as traffic increases.

The Rs146bn Chennai metro project is being undertaken by CMRL, a special purpose vehicle modelled on Delhi Metro Rail Corp and jointly owned by the national government and the state of Tami Nadu. Two routes are planned, the 23 km north-south Line 1 from Washermanpet to the Airport, and the 22 km Line 2 from Chennai Central to St Thomas Mount via Koyambedu.

Completion is planned for late 2014 or early 2015, with much of the funding coming from a Japanese soft loan.

• Egis Rail's Chennai Metro Project Director André Marchand described the project in the December 2009 issue of Metro Report International.