Chennai Metro announces surprise award
Mar 2011
Shani Wallis, TunnelTalk
- In a turn about to the expected, the last underground package for the Chennai Metro in India has been awarded via a letter of intent to Gammon India in joint venture with OJSC Mosmetrostory.
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Underground for 18km of Chennai's metro
- The announcement came as a surprise since Gammon had been barred from tendering new metro work after a fatal accident on one of its contracts for the Delhi Metro last year. Failure of a cantilever section for the company's elevated metro viaduct contract killed seven and had the head of the DMRC, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, take responsibility and resign on the spot. DMRC is Prime Consultant to Chennai Metro, and while the resignation of Managing Director Dr E. Sreedharan was rejected, for its role in the accident Gammon was reportedly fined for 'deficiency' in design and material and recently banned from further metro work in India for two years.
- Chennai Metro Rail Corporation, which is keen to see work on the city's metro system start without delay, is said to have issued a notice to Gammon India asking it to explain why it should not be denied the work. Efforts to reach Gammon India for comment by TunnelTalk have been unsuccessful but a report in The Times of India quotes head of corporate communications for Gammon as saying that the company had cleared its name and that the accident "was because of a fault in the design submitted by another company selected by Delhi Metro Rail." Gammon and Mosmetrostroy submitted the lowest bids for the last of the project's five underground metro packages.
- Sixteen groups comprising several international and local contractors prequalified to bid the total 18km of underground alignment with 19 underground stations. Of the five design-build packages, Gammon-Mosmetrostroy submitted the lowest proposals for packages UAA-02 and UAA-03 for 6.4km of twin TBM running tunnels and seven underground stations from Secretariat to Saidapet on the south leg of the city's first two metro lines. The two contracts are valued at Rs 1,047.42 crore and Rs 932.88 crore respectively for a total of Rs 1,980.3 crore (about US$440 million). In a press release Gammon said it will construct the underground stations with its partner Mosmetrostory managing the running tunnels using four machines.
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Table 1. 16 international consortia prequalified to bid the Chennai Metro 1. BOUYGUES TRAVAUX PUBLICS, France 2. SEMBAWANG ENGINEERS & CONSTRUCTORS PTE LTD., Singapore 3. SAMSUNG-SOMA JV, Korea/India 4. METROSTROY-ERA JV, Russia/India 5. GAMMON–OJSC "MOSCOW METROSTROY" JV, India/Russia 6. GYT-COASTAL JV, India 7. ALSIM ALARKO STTAS–NCCL–GULERMAK ASITAS JV, Turkey 8. ITD-ITD CEM JV, Thailand/India 9. TRANSTONNEL STROY-AFCONS JV, Russia. 10. METRO TUNNELING CHENNAI-L&T SUCG JV, India 11. METRO TUNNELING Group Chennai -
STRABAG–JAEGER JV, Austria/Switzerland12. HCC-SELI-SB JV, India/Italy 13. IVRCL OJSC KYIV METRO BUD (KMB) JV, India/Russia 14. CEC - Continental Engineering Corporation, Taiwan 15. ALPINE BAU GmbH, Austria. 16. DOOSAN–SAMWHAN–CCCL JV, India Packages UAA-01 and UAA-05 for the sections from Washermenpet to Egmore station (5.5km of twin running tunnel and five underground stations) and from Shenoy Nagar to Thiurmangalam station (3.1km of twin running tunnels and four underground stations), is awarded to Afcons Infrastructure Limited of India and its Russian joint venture partner Transtonnelstroy Limited. With a total value of Rs. 2598 crore (about US$577 million) the JV will use five TBMs to complete the total 8km of twin tube tunnelling.
The fifth UAA-04 package for the section between Nehru Park and Pachaiyappa's College is awarded to the L&T-SUDG (Shanghai Underground Construction Group – the overseas arm of Shanghai's STEC construction company). It is to use two TBMs that STEC will build for the contract in Shanghai. These are among the first Chinese made TBMs to be used on projects outside of China. The first one is for a SUCG contract on Singapore’s new Downtown line and the owner of the system, LTA, has recently confirmed client-procurement of another six STEC TBMs for further tunnelling contracts on the long Downtown Line metro project.
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The metro extension in Kolkata take the service under the Hooghly River
- Award of the underground contracts for the Chennai project in India follows a set of tunnelling and underground station contacts awarded on metro systems in other cities in India.
- In Kolkata, Afcons, in joint venture again with Transtonnelstroy of Russia is progressing its Rs 938 crore contract to take an extension of the metro system under the Hooghly River to connect Howrah Maidan station on the west bank to Central Station on the east. This is the first under river crossing for any metro system in India and where it was anticipated that a slurry machine would be used to excavate the soft river soils, the JV has said it will use an EPB machine from Herrenknecht. The 3km long twin running tunnel section with its 520m section up to 30m below the river (15m below the river bed) and its three stations at Howrah Maidan, Howrah, and Mahakaran, is expected to take four years to complete.
- Also in Kolkata, ITD Cementation Ltd, is awarded the eastern 4.5km section of twin tunnel underground alignment from Central Station to Phool Bagan where it is to use two Herrenknecht TBMs for the drives.
- Meanwhile in Bangalore, the CEC-Soma JV is advancing its Rs. 995.2 crores (US $210.2 million) UG2 contract for 3.4km of twin tube running tunnels and four cut-and-cover underground stations for the city's new East West Line and recently took delivery of the two Hitachi Zozen slurry TBMs that it has procured for the job.
- The machines are the first Hitachi TBMs, and the first ever slurry TBM systems to be used in India. They will work through weathered rock and residual soils under a high watertable and the order with Hitachi includes the slurry separation plants.
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Two Hitachi TBMs ready to ship from Japan to Bangalore
- The second contract for 3.3km running tunnels and two underground stations at Chikpet and City Market the North South Line in Bangalore, UG1, is currently in valuation and Coastal Projects Ltd is said to be in poll position with the lowest bid. Working the underground tunnel headings, once awarded, is said to be a project that will come into the company's recent alliance with SELI of Italy. The ambitious companies have joined forces to maximize their advantages in the burgeoning TBM tunnelling market in India.
- A third contract in Bangalore is for the design and construction of the underground interchange station on the two lines at Majestic. Award of that contract is also anticipated.
- Along with plans for metro systems in several other cities, including Mumbai, Ludhiana, and Pune, Agra, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Hyderabad, and Chandigarh, Delhi has also started design and procurement of its new Phases III (112km) and IV (108.5km) line extension to take the network to a total of more than 413 route kilometres by 2015 and 2020 respectively.
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Prequalifiers line up for Chennai Metro works - TunnelTalk, July 2010
Underground advance for Bangalore Metro - TunnelTalk, July 2010
SELI and Coastal form subcontinent alliance - TunnelTalk, March 2011
Delhi Metro meets Commonwealth Games deadlines - TunnelTalk, Oct 2010
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