The Government of Tamil Nadu (India) has recently announced that it will re-activate the monorail project in Chennai.

The project consist of two stretches:

• Poonamallee - Kathipara stretch, with a link from Porur to Vadapalani (20.68 km). The stretch will be taken up through a public-private partnership (PPP) contract on a design, build, finance operate and transfer (DBFOT). Four corridors have been identified based on a feasibility study. According to sources the contract period would be 30 years. The estimated cost of INR3.26 billion (US$485.7 million).
• Vandalur - Velachery stretch of 22.80 km. The stretch is proposed to be developed with multilateral funding at an estimated project cost of INR3.14 billion (US$466.2 million).

As we reported back in 2014, the tender process for the first stretch was launched in February 2014. The Government of Tamil Nadu, through the Metropolitan Transport Corporation of Chennai, issued a request for qualification (RFQ)  to develop the proposed 20.68 km Chennai monorail PPP project.

Two or three consortia showed interest in the project, including Bombardier and a Chinese firm that runs the monorail system in the mountainous city of Chongqing.

Transport Minister M R Vijayabhaskar recently said that although the 43.48 km Chennai monorail scheme was announced by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in 2006, the subsequent DMK government had, however, put it in “cold storage”.

Details about the schedule of the new tender process have not been revealed.

The project aims to provide multi-modal integration, including sub-urban railways to provide network connectivity in the region.