Kolkata-based Andromeda Technologies has teamed up with German firms-Fernmeldewerk Munchen Aubing (for signaling system) and Derap AG & Helbling Technik (for technological know-how) to introduce monorail on the Budge Budge-Taratala stretch in Kolkata. The Rs 1,200-crore project also includes introduction of LPG-based feeder bus services for complementing the monorail service, P C Sen, chairman of Andromeda Technologies told Financial Chronicle here on Wednesday.

Sen said that financial closure for the project was expected to be over by the end of this month itself, while the detailed project report (DPR) was already being prepared by the Canadian firm McCornick Rrankin International. Significantly, the monorail project coincides with the

Rs 6,000-crore light rail transit system (first of its kind in the country), which is being executed by a special purpose vehicle (SPV) comprising Srei Infrastructure Finance, the Czech-based Amex Inter-national and West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development.

Andromeda has bagged the contract for constructing the first stretch of 20 kilometres of monorail from Budge Budge to Taratala on build-own-and-operate basis for an approximate cost of Rs 60 crore per kilometer through a global tender floated by West Bengal Transport Infrastructure Development, Biplab Bhattacharya, director of the company said.

“Once the first phase is completed, the government will take a call on awarding the contract for the second phase, stretching for 52 kilometres up to Rajarhat in the city's north eastern fringes,” state transport department officials said.

The train, with hybrid technology, will have four coaches, each with its own electric

generator and can accommodate 150 passengers. The company is also contemplating running the monorail

with LPG in future, Bhattacharya said.

He said that they had already spoken to Indian Oil for providing them with adequate support as and when the company starts LPG-based monorail. And Indian Oil, on its parts, had assured the company that the former could come up with the proper infrastructure for that as and when the requirement comes, he added. The monorail project would take two-and-half years after the beginning of actual construction work.

Meanwhile, Bhattacharya said, “We are planning a feeder service with around 40 LPG-based buses, which will help the commuters travel to their destinations from the monorail stations.”