Delhi Metro Phase 4’s RS17 Train Design Unveiled as Alstom Begins Production

The first look of Delhi Metro’s new RS-17 train-sets is out! Alstom Transport today formally started manufacturing 312 new coaches (52 trains) for Delhi Metro Phase 4 project at their Sri City, Andhra Pradesh facility in the presence of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials.

These 52 Alstom Metropolis trains of 6-coaches each will be deployed across 3 metro lines via a Rs. 2631.36 crore (312 million Euro) contract awarded in October 2022 with a 4.5 year delivery completion deadline.

The contract financed by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through a Rs. 8,390 crore loan consists of two parts:

• 90 coaches (15 x 6 coaches) for Line-7 / Pink Line’s 12.558 km extension (Mukundpur – Maujpur), and 144 coaches (24 x 6 coaches) for Line-8 / Magenta Line’s 28.92 km extension (Janakpuri West – RK Ashram)
• 78 coaches (13 x 6 coaches) for new 23.622 km Line-10 / Golden Line (Aerocity – Tughlakabad) – contract includes maintenance for a period of 15 years.

Delhi’s new lightweight train-sets will be operated in formations of DMC + TC + TC + TC + TC + DMC where DMC = Driving Motor Car and TC = Trailer Car. They will have a maximum design speed of 95 kmph and operational speed of 85 kmph.

With Alstom’s CBTC signaling and train-control solution from Package DS-06, the trains will be capable of GoA4 grade of automation for Unattended Train Operations (UTO). The new trains will be stabled at the following maintenance depots:

• Line-7 (Pink Line): Mukundpur (existing) and Vinod Nagar (existing)
• Line-8 (Magenta Line): Kalindi Kunj (existing) and Mukundpur (future)
• Line-10 (Silver Line): Sarita Vihar (future)

I’ve asked Alstom India for a proper rendering of the train. In the meanwhile, I’ve blown up the rendering displayed in the bottom right corner:

The trains’ design is essentially the same as Mumbai Metro Aqua Line’s Alstom trains which are currently also being manufactured at Sri City. At 3.2m, they’re a little wider than Chennai Metro Line-4’s new ARE03A trains, which have a similar design, for which production began earlier this month.

Alstom or DMRC haven’t announced a delivery time-frame for the first train, but looking at past projects – I expect the first train to roll out of the plant towards the end of Q3 (July – September) 2024.

After this order is fulfilled, which I imagine would be around 2027, Delhi Metro network’s fleet will reach 2606 coaches. A full recap of Delhi’s 17 rolling stock contracts can viewed here.

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– TMRG