OREANDA-NEWS. On June 29, Alstom’s first metro in India entered commercial service in the city of Chennai on the first phase of line 2 from Koyambedu to Alandur, which covers 10 kilometres and includes 8 stations. Present at the inauguration were Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Pankaj Kumar Bansal, Managing Director, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), Bharat Salhotra, Managing Director, Alstom Transport India, as well as key government officials and other prominent dignitaries. More than 80,000 passengers are expected to travel per day on the new metro line.

In 2011, Alstom was awarded a contract worth €243 million for the supply of 42 metro trainsets (168 metro cars) for the Chennai Metro in India1. As part of its global strategy to reinforce customer proximity and better adress the rising demand for mobility in several cities in India , Alstom has set up in 2012 a manufacturing plant in Sri-City. Close to 80% of the Metropolis trainsets ordered by CMRL were manufactured there while the first nine train sets (36 metro cars) were produced at Alstom’s factory in Lapa, Brazil. Alstom has already delivered 25 out of 42 trains for this project. Alstom has also carried out the design of trackworks for the Chennai metro project2 .

The 4-car Metropolis train can carry over 1,200 passengers comfortably as it is equiped with air-conditioning, a passenger information system with LED displays - including dynamic route maps in Tamil and English - CCTVs3 ,  luggage racks and special sections for ladies and people with reduced mobility. The metro offers easy and fluid access thanks to its automatic sliding wide doors and wide gangways. The stainless steel trainset is equipped with a regenerative braking system ensuring significant energy savings. The metro will operate on 25 KV AC through an overhead catenary system at speeds of up to 80 km/h.

With more than 4,500 Metropolis sold to over 20 cities, Alstom is the second largest metro supplier in the world. Designed to address the specific needs of each city, Metropolis offers a large range of options and configurations, a high level of passenger comfort and innovative features to optimize the energy consumption and the life cycle costs.