Hitachi Rail wins major Chennai Metro signalling contract

Hitachi Rail was awarded a ₹1,620 cr contract for signalling, train control and video management systems across Chennai Metro’s 119 km Phase II network. The agreement covers design, manufacture, supply, installation, testing and commissioning, making it one of India’s largest metro signalling contracts. 🚇

The project includes the 15 km Poonamallee–Vadapalani corridor, which was inaugurated on 11 Oct 2026 and has 11 elevated stations connecting Chennai’s western suburbs with the city centre. The signalling package uses communications-based train control technology, or CBTC, to manage train movement, acceleration and braking in real time. ⚙️

CBTC is designed to support train intervals of up to 90 seconds by calculating operating speeds and maintaining safe separation between services. That makes signalling and train-control infrastructure a key capacity enabler as Chennai Metro expands beyond civil construction and station development. The contract also covers video management systems, adding an operations and surveillance layer to the rail network.

The announcement follows a separate Chennai Metro development contract reported earlier for Capacit’e Infraprojects. Unlike that ₹369 cr package, which focused on civil, structural, architectural and building-services work near Thirumangalam Metro Station, this contract relates to the technology systems needed to operate the wider Phase II network.

What to watch next is the implementation schedule for the Phase II signalling package, commissioning milestones on individual corridors and updates on when CBTC-enabled services begin commercial operations. The Poonamallee–Vadapalani corridor’s operating performance and the rollout across the remaining network will indicate how quickly the technology translates into higher service frequency and improved connectivity. 📡

Source: Construction World India, 02 Nov 2026

Not investment advice. For informational purposes only.