Somewhere in Chennai....

Chennai Metro Rail took the first step prior to the rollout of services in the city by starting the speed test of the four-car train imported from Brazil for use on an elevated line between Koyambedu and St Thomas Mount. The train will be run repeatedly till it clocks 1,600 km before commuters will be allowed to board sometime mid next year.
Chief minister J Jayalalithaa took a close look at the train before flagging it off for a test run at a brief ceremony at the metro rail yard. The mass rapid transit system is being implemented in 10 cities across the country. The state government is planning to commission the project by July next year.
“We will double the efforts to complete the project on time,” said Chennai Metro Rail managing director K Rajaraman. “Metro rail will improve the life of residents.” The four-car train is automated and has several systems like regenerative braking that will generate power from braking, which can be used for auxiliary and communication system and safety mechanism.
L Narasim Prasad, director, systems and operations, metro rail said, “The train will be put to extensive trials on the 800-metre test track in the yard. After running the train on the test track, it will be taken on the elevated viaduct from Koyambedu to St Thomas Mount for more trials. Such trials are needed because it is an automated system where the train moves along the line using pre-programmed information.”
Alstom will supply 42 four-car rakes for metro rail. Nine of them will be manufactured in Brazil, while the rest will be made at its new factory at Sri City. Every rake will have to go through a stationary test to check the efficacy of the electrical and electronic systems, and acceleration and deceleration tests for 1,600 km before they are put into operation. The trains will be run at 80 kmph to test braking.
The train would be controlled by onboard computers and from an operations control centre (OCC) at the Koyambedu yard. All activities at stations and on trains will be monitored by the control centre. “The centre will be notified of all problems including issues like a faulty escalator,” said an official. The OCC would be ready in three to four months.
Rajaraman said the state government’s Vision 2020 document envisages a modern mass rapid public transport system for the city. “The state has sanctioned more than 2,000 crore and also given 844 crore for land acquisition,” he added.