URC emerges as lowest bidder for Chennai metro’s Madhavaram depot

URC Construction was the lowest bidder for the construction of Chennai Metro Rail Limited's (CMRL) largest depot at Madhavaram, which will house the majority of the Phase II project's trains. According to the media, construction should begin in mid-January and be finished in three years.

URC Construction was the lowest bidder for the construction of this depot, which was put out to tender by CMRL.

The depot will be built on 27.8 hectares of land, which is larger than the Koyambedu facility, which was built on 25 hectares.

According to the detailed project report, the Madhavaram depot would have facilities for stabling lines, inspection lines, a workshop for overhaul, a workshop for major train repairs and wheel profiling, as well as cleaning of the roof and interiors of trains.

The phase II project will include 112 trains, all of which will be equipped to operate without a driver.

The trains would initially have three coaches, with the possibility of adding three more if demand warranted.

This depot was built primarily for the regular maintenance of trains operating on the Madhavaram-SIPCOT and Madhavaram-Shollinganallur corridors in Phase II of the project.

A depot would be built at Poonamallee for the third corridor of Poonamallee-LightHouse, and the contract has been awarded to a joint venture between Ukraine's Altis Holding Corporation and Varindera Constructions Ltd.

Since the CMRL aims to begin operations after 2025, both depots should be ready first, as they will have testing tracks and facilities for conducting trial runs of new trains before certifying them as operationally fit.

Image Source