1001 Smart Cities
🇮🇳 Chennai

Chennai Metro Phase II Driverless (GoA4) Signalling

🤖 AI-generated summary · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

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Chennai's next metro corridor is built for fully driverless GoA4 running at 90-second headways — but a year on from safety clearance it's still carrying officials on trial runs, not fare-paying passengers.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence📰 Mediagrades the sourcing — this entry states no impact figure
what does this mean?The strongest source is press reporting; no primary evaluation was located. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byChennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), with Hitachi Rail (signalling) and Alstom (rolling stock)
Scale🏘️ District
Cost₹1,620 crore signalling contract (Hitachi Rail)
FundingTamil Nadu / Government of India, with international development-bank loans (including New Development Bank financing for Corridor 4)

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 7 more in Chennai · 🚌 Public transport guide · 🚲 Mobility projects

Chennai Metro Rail Limited is commissioning Grade-of-Automation-4 unattended train operation on Phase II, under a ₹1,620-crore Hitachi Rail communications-based train control (CBTC) signalling contract awarded in 2023, designed to allow 90-second headways, automatic depot train movement and platform-screen-door control, with Alstom supplying the automated trainsets. The 14.64km Poonamallee–Vadapalani stretch of Corridor 4 passed a Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety inspection in early 2026 and has since carried trial and inspection runs — including a chief minister's ride on 29 July 2026 — restricted to 25km/h and 15-minute headways, but had not opened to fare-paying passengers as of early August 2026, after at least two previously announced launch dates (February and July 2026) slipped.

In build 📅 since 2023
🚲 MobilityPublic transportAutonomous vehiclesSensors & IoT

Sources

↗ The News MinuteHitachi Rail CBTC signalling contract value and scope (automatic train operation, depot movement, platform screen doors).
↗ Railway Gazette InternationalAlstom driverless trainset order for Phase II.
↗ News Today (Chennai)29 July 2026 chief minister's trial ride; confirms operations still at trial stage, not public service, with 15-minute/25km/h operating limits.
↗ Metro Rail News14.64km Poonamallee Outer Ring Road–Vadapalani stretch length and readiness status.
↗ New Development BankCorridor 4 project financing via NDB.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇰🇷 Incheon Metro Line 2's Road to Fully Unattended Operation · Incheon Incheon opened driverless-capable in 2016 but kept safety officers aboard 8 years; Chennai's GoA4 line is stuck in trial runs, unopened. 🇮🇳 Pune Metro's CBTC Signalling (Lines 1 & 2) · Pune Both are Indian CBTC rollouts, but Pune settled for supervised GoA2 while Chennai is still chasing unattended GoA4, still unopened. 🇮🇳 Green Line CBTC Signalling & Automatic Train Operation (Kolkata Metro) · Kolkata Contrast: Chennai's Phase II is contracted for GoA4 unattended operation, while Kolkata's Green Line still awaits clearance for auto mode.

Explore the wider context

🚦 Asphalt or algorithms📖 CBTC (communications-based train control)📖 Grades of Automation (GoA)📖 Personal rapid transit (PRT)
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Chennai Metro Phase II Driverless (GoA4) Signalling” — Chennai, India. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/chennai-metro-phase2-driverless/ (last verified 2026-08-02). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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