Japanese firm Mitsui to supply head hardened rails for Chennai Metro Phase 2

Chennai, India (Metro Rail Today): The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has awarded a contract worth Rs 163.30 (163,30,68,478.67) crore to Japanese firm Mitsui & Co. Ltd. for supply of 60E1 Profile, 1080 Grade (Head Hardened) Rails Conforming to IRS T-12-2009 for Corridor 3 & 5 of Chennai Metro Rail Project under Phase 2. The Letter of Acceptance (LoA) was issued on 5th September 2022.

The under-construction 45.813 km Corridor 3 of Chennai Metro will connect Madhavaram to SIPCOT with 49 stations while the 47 km long Corridor 5 will connect Madhavaram to Sholinganallur with 48 stations. The both corridors will run in a north-south orientation and will have both underground and elevated sections.

The 60E1 – 1080 grade tracks are made as per Indian Railway Specification T-12-2009, and manufactured through a special heat treatment process to provide additional strength, lower residual stress, elongate track-life and minimize maintenance for Rail & Metro projects.

Tender notice for this contract package was issued in August 2021 with 1632 days delivery deadlne. Technical bids were opened in February 2022 and only two bids were recived both from the Japanese companies Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Ohmi Industries Ltd. as the tender was limited to Japanese firms only.

This contract package will be financed by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Earlier Mitsui had supplied 10,600 metric tonnes of head hardened rails (HH Rails) to Ahmedabad Metro Phase 1 project and also it is delivering HH Rails to Banaglore Metro Phase 2.