One of the largest contracts in Chennai Metro Rail Ltd.'s Phase II project, for designing and developing signaling software were awarded to Hitachi Rail Signalling and Transportation Systems India Pvt. Ltd. According to Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) officials, the financial bids were opened a few days ago, and Hitachi was the lowest bidder. Nippon Signal was the only other company that had bid on the project, which had a cost of around Rs. 16 billion. “There are some procedures and evaluations to be done before formally awarding the contract. Most importantly, there is a project management committee which has to approve it only after which the contract can be issued,” an official said. According to officials, the contractor should deliver the software months in advance so that trials can begin because the first stretch between Poonamallee and Power House might be opened by the end of 2025 or the beginning of 2026. In Phase II, Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. plans to run driverless trains, for which a reliable signaling system is crucial as it regulates many functions, including announcements in stations and trains and other important aspects of train operations, the officials said. Phase II of the project set to employ a different signaling system than Phase I. In contrast to the distance-to-go signaling system that CMRL installed for the Phase I project, it will deploy the communications-based train control signaling system in Phase II, which officials claim is a better and more accurate system. As a result, the Phase I project's trains will not operate in Phase II. Commuters will have to depart, walk a short distance, and then board the train wherever there are interchange stations, such as Alandur, Thirumangalam, CMBT, or KMC. See also: CMRL awards Rs 9.47-bn contract for 26 driverless train sets Chennai Metro Phase 2 project gets new casting yardSee also:CMRL awards Rs 9.47-bn contract for 26 driverless train setsChennai Metro Phase 2 project gets new casting yard