Alstom has delivered to Chennai Metro Rail Ltd the first two sets of metro cars manufactured at its new factory in Sricity, Andhra Pradesh.
They are part of a €243-million order representing 42 metro train sets to be delivered by 2015.
The metro cars were rolled out from the facility on Thursday in presence of Henri Poupart-Lafarge, President, Alstom Transport, Sudhir Krishna, Chairman, CMRL and Francois Richier, France’s Ambassador to India, says a press release issued by Chennai Metro.
The stainless steel trains – composed of four cars each – will feature air-conditioned interiors and electrically operated automatic sliding doors.
They will be equipped with a regenerative braking system ensuring significant energy savings and capable of speeds of up to 80 km/hr, said Alstom in a release.
Alstom totally will supply 168 cars for the Chennai Metro, and the contract includes an option for 16 additional metro cars. The first delivery from the company’s facility in Sao Paulo, Brazil, started in 2012.
In addition to supplying the rolling stock, Alstom equips the trains with a signalling system for Automatic Train Protection and Automatic Train Operation.
The metro project, which is coming up at a cost of around ₹15,000 crore, consists of two interconnected lines linking North Chennai to the airport in the South and Chennai Central to St Thomas Mount. It will include 32 stations –19 equipped with full size platform screen doors – over 45 km (24 km underground and 21 km elevated).