European engineering and consulting group Systra has been selected on behalf of its client, Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation Limited (GMRCL), for the execution of Surat Metro Rail Project Phase I in India.

The project, which is expected to continue for 42 months, has received funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the German development bank KfW.

The group is functioning as the lead partner of the joint venture with Aecom Asia Company and Egis Rail.

As agreed, Systra’s teams in India will provide a review of the detailed project report (DPR), a design review, system integration, and procurement assistance for civil and system works.

The company will also be responsible for construction supervision for civil and system works, overall project management, safety and quality check, and testing and commissioning.

At present, Systra is working for Ahmedabad Metro Phase I as part of a general engineering consultancy (GEC) contract for GMRCL, which was launched in March 2019.

The project, which commenced in 2015, is scheduled to be concluded next year.

Surat Metro Rail Project Phase I includes two corridors with a total length of 40.35km and 38 stations.

With six underground and 14 elevated stations, corridor 1 will span from Sarthana to Dream City, while corridor 2 will stretch from Bhesan to Saroli with 18 elevated stations.

The metro, including three 2.90m wide coach units, will operate at a design speed of 90km/h and maximum operating speed of 80km/h.

In addition, it will feature continuous automatic train control system (CATC) with cab signalling and automatic train operation (ATO), an automatic fare collection (AFC) system with smart cards, and platform screen doors.

It will deploy automatic train supervision (ATS) sub-systems for radio communication between track side and train.

Systra India managing director Hari Somalraju said: “We are delighted to have won another major contract with GMRCL for Surat Metro and I am confident that our teams will carry out this latest assignment to the same standards of technical excellence and collaboration that have characterised all our other projects for our clients.”

In February this year, Systra, in a consortium with project consulting company BPK Mosty, secured a contract to perform modernisation works on a Pan-European railway passage.