Nine driverless trains for Chennai Metro Rail’s Phase II Project to delivered by March 2025

Chennai Metro Rail's Phase II Project to introduce driverless three-coach trains, enhancing city's commuting experience.

Nine three-coach driverless trains will be at Chennai Metro Rail’s depot facility in Poonamallee by March next year for the ₹63,246-crore Phase II Project. 

While the first of the trains was delivered to the depot in mid-October, the second train will be delivered next month, with its production under way at the manufacturing plant in Sri City.

The 118.9-km Phase II Project will ease commuting for lakhs of people across the city since it’s three corridors — Madhavaram to SIPCOT, Light House to Poonamallee, and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur — will pass through almost every key area of the city.

In a departure from the currently operational 54-km Phase I network, where four-coach trains with drivers are operated, the Phase II network will have driverless three-coach trains. A couple of years down the line, six-coach trains will be initiated into the system in the Phase II Project, when the patronage increases.

According to officials of Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), the testing of the first driverless train has been ongoing for the past few weeks. “Nearly 50% of the static tests have been completed so far, and there have been no issues. We are checking all the units of the trains. The dynamic tests or the trial run, where the train will be tested for its speed and how it operates, may begin later this month,” an official said.

Though the trial run of the first train in the test track at the Poonamallee depot was planned for last month, it was later postponed. Meanwhile, preparations are also in progress at the depot to receive the second train in December.