Chennai Metro to procure additional six-coach trains for Phase 1 corridors

Chennai, India (Metro Rail Today): To meet the furture passenger demand, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) is planning to invest Rs 2,800 crore to procure additional six-coach trains and upgrade stations of Phase 1 metro corridors.

CMRL has appointed a consultant for carrying out study on buying extra coaches as the number of persons travelling in trains increased in recent times and on an average, about 2.5 lakh passengers use the system now.

At present, four-coach trains are running in the 54-km network with an average speed of 34 kmph, with three general coaches and one coach for women. Since there has been a surge in the crowd during peak hours

“We need to plan for future demand and hence we began the preparatory work. The consultant presented an initial report which suggested that we need about 168 coaches or 28 six-coach trains in the near future for phase I project. Since we are procuring more trains, we need to upgrade the facilities like signalling system and platform screen doors along with it. This apart, the stations will go through some modifications to accommodate the six-coach trains. We will present it to the State government and take it forward,” said an official.

"CMRL is in talks with an international bank to fund the project. We will have to get approval from the State government and the Centre for this as well,” another official said.

The phase I project work was started more than a decade ago with a budget of Rs 14,600 crore and the work was finished in a phased manner, with the final section from AG-DMS to Washermanpet which was  opened to public in 2019.

The Phase I of Chennai Metro covers a length of 45.046 km network and consists of two corridors i.e. Corridor-I from Washermenpet to Airport (23.085 km) and Corridor -2 from Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount (21.961 km).

About 55% of the Corridors in Phase I is Underground and the remaining are Elevated. Out of 32 nos. of Stations, 13 nos. are Elevated Stations and the remaining 19 nos. are Underground Stations.