Chennai: CMRL seeks bids to name 9 stations

CHENNAI: As part of increasing its non-fare revenue, the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has floated a tender for semi-naming nine Metro stations in phase I extension of Corridor 1.

Also, the auction for licensing of exclusive advertising rights on the inside and outside of these 9 stations have been planned alongside semi-naming.

The names of Metro stations that will have a suffix or prefix added to its original name as per the contract are New Washermenpet, Thiyagaraya College, Tondiarpet, Tollgate, Wimco Nagar and Wimco Nagar Depot, Tiruvottiyur, Tiruvottiyur Theradi and Kaladipet stations.

An CMRL official told DT Next that the contractor could add their business name as suffix/prefix to the original name of the station. “However, this time, we’ve also allowed firms to advertise their business inside and outside of the Metro stations and on piers along Corridor 1, unlike in phase I stations,” the official added. “It is vital to have non-fare revenue generation for CMRL besides solely depending on revenue generation through ticketing alone. This increases the chances of further collaborations in future. Semi-naming will not lead to changes in announcements made at the station.”

However, as exclusive advertisement rights in phase I did not allow businesses to advertise inside/outside phase I stations, in both corridors 1 and 2; this new move will bring added revenue to CMRL.

Meanwhile, since 2019, CMRL has semi-named close to 26 Metro stations in phase 1 out of its 40 stations.

Through this, the department till July 2023 has earned an average Rs 16 crore per year as part of non-fare revenue, cites official data.