Metro Rail News Online

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) on Thursday announced that it has appointed a Delhi-based contractor for constructing Metro car depot of Colaba-Seepz Metro-3 underground corridor. The MMRC has said that it has tweaked the plan and now 3,130 trees will be affected due to the construction of the car depot. MMRC said that it is going to keep 1,073 trees untouched in five hectares of space near the car depot which will be known as green zone. SK Gupta, acting managing director, MMRC, said, “We are going to replant and transplant the affected trees and the number of trees will be depending on the number approved by the tree authority of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).” The MMRC on June 23 awarded the contract to Sam (India) Builtwell Private Limited and is going to construct depot on total of 22 hectares. The remaining land will be for the green zone and access way that will be required to connect the Metro with the alignment towards the Western Express...

New Delhi: State-run engineering firm BHEL today said that it has entered into an agreement with Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd (KHI), Japan, to produce stainless steel coaches and bogies for metro rail. "To this effect, the Technology Collaboration Agreement was signed by Amitabh Mathur, Director (IS&P), BHEL and Makoto Ogawara, Senior Vice President, KHI in the presence of Atul Sobti, Chairman and Managing Director, BHEL and Yoshinori Kanehana, President, KHI," BHEL said in a statement. According to the statement, the agreement covers establishing state-of-the-art design, engineering and manufacturing facilities at BHEL, India, using Japanese technology. It will also entitle BHEL for technology advances and upgrades. BHEL has been a steady partner in the growth of Indian Railways for over 50 years by supplying electric as well as diesel locomotives, EMUs, and propulsion system sets and drives for the same. Kolkata Metro, the first metro in India, is equipped with BHEL-ma...

Kochi: An internal probe by Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has found violation of the Metro Act by former Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and other Congress leaders during their "protest journey" against Chandy"s non-invitation to the recent inauguration of metro services here. The Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) today said those who had breached certain substantive provisions of the Metro Railways (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2002 during the "Janakeeya Yatra" would face legal action. "The report of the Director (Finance), KMRL regarding the Janakeeya Yatra that took place in the Kochi Metro Rail system on June 20, was submitted to MD, KMRL today. "It was found by the Enquiry Officer that there had been breaches of certain substantive provisions of the Metro Railways (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2002," a KMRL spokesperson said. In the light of the enquiry report, further legal action would be taken by KMRL following the stipulated ...

Jammu: Divisional Commissioner, Dr. Mandeep K Bhandari today chaired a meeting to review the progress of feasibility report for construction of Metro Rail Project in Jammu city. DIG Jammu, Ashkoor Wani, Deputy Commissioner, Kumar Rajeev Ranjan, Commissioner JMC, M. Raju, Chief Town Planner, Joginder Singh, VC JDA, RK Shavan, Director ERA, Ravinder Gupta, Chief Engineer R&B  Sudheer Shah, representatives of RITES besides other senior officers of ERA attended the meeting. The meeting discussed various aspects of first phase of the project including expected cost, routes, rail stations, over head bridges and construction technology. The Div Com stressed upon the officers to use the latest technology so that the best service can be provided to the commuters. The meeting was informed that Stage-I, MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) Master Plan for study area has been completed and Stage-II, DPR for agreed Priority MRTS Corridors is in progress and would be ready by August after consul...

NEW DELHI: In just over three months, Delhiites will be able to travel in Delhi Metro"s first "driverless" trains on the Magenta Line from Janakpuri West to Botanical Garden. The Magenta Line, which missed its June deadline and is going to miss its September deadline too, is going to be thrown partially open to the public in October this year, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) said. -This line is planned to be opened in stages between October 2017 and March 2018As the corridor will ----witness the first operations of driverless trains, DMRC is not taking any chances and rigorous trials are being carried out Trial runs on two sections of the corridor of phase III, between Kalkaji and Botanical Garden (13 km) and Janakpuri West to Terminal 1 - IGI Airport Metro station (10 km) are in progress, a DMRC spokesperson said. "Both sections will be offered for safety inspection to CMRS (Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety) after successful signalling trials. The sections ...

The Delhi Metro’s Phase III, an ambitious public transport intervention, will be almost fully operational by March 2018, bringing vast areas of the national capital into the fold of its fast expanding network. Stretches of the Pink and Magenta Lines, which will together measure over 90 km with 61 stations, will be thrown open starting this October and the entire corridors will be functional by next year. The 58-km-long Pink Line, which will connect Majlis Park to Shiv Vihar running along the arterial ring road that encircles the city, will be opened in stages between December 2017 and March 2018, according to the latest Phase III status report. However, a section of the corridor between Nizamuddin and IP Extension in East Delhi may not be operational by March as it is stuck due to issues pertaining to land acquisition. “The date for Nizamuddin to IP Extension section will be worked out after resettlement and rehabilitation issues at Trilokpuri are settled,” the report ...

Chennai: Onsite solar energy provider CleanMax Solar has bagged the order to power Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. CleanMax has bagged six MW Solar Rooftop Turnkey contract on Resco model (Renewable Energy Service Company model) that would be used to power metro stations, depots and administration buildings, a company statement said. “The venture will involve the installation of rooftop and ground mounted solar PV plants at 12 metro stations and at the maintenance depot in Koyambedu,” it said. The move was also in line with the Centre’s vision of moving towards renewable energy by 2022. With the use of renewable energy, the company said it would reduce the carbon dioxide emission by 7,438 tonnes per year and save Rs1.50 crore annually to Chennai Metro. “Once fully operational, the total capacity of rooftops and ground mounted power systems in CMRL’s facilities will be six MW, which will make it one of the largest onsite solar projects in India,” it said. Chen...

French multinational company Alstom has secured a contract from Akiem to carry out the mid-life overhaul of 23 BB 36000 locomotives to improve their longevity and reliability. The new contract follows an initial agreement signed in April last year to conduct mid-life overhaul of seven BB 36000 trains, which were operating in Morocco. The locomotives are expected to operate for additional 15 years following the overhaul works. Akiem group president Fabien Rochefort said: “This technical and industrial collaboration with Alstom has allowed us to define a programme of overhauls in line with our commercial ambitions for this fleet, which we intend to deploy in France as well as in the France-Italy and central European corridors.” The scope of the maintenance work includes bogie overhauls and obsolescence monitoring, as well as the repair and modernisation of driver"s cabins. Alstom’s service team at the company"s Belfort site will carry out the tas...

Mumbai: Reliance Infrastructure (RInfra) has initiated a process to spin off a new unit, called Reliance Transport, to take care of its interests in railway, metro, airport and road projects even as the proposed listing of Infrastructure Investment Trust (InvIT) faces what the company calls “some procedural delays” after receiving the nod from the stock market regulator. Analysts say that the move is to generate positive investor sentiment. A Reliance Infrastructure spokesperson said, “RInfra InvIT is on track and will be launched shortly.” A senior RInfra official told DNA Money that four of its businesses such as roads, metro, airports and railways would be consolidated into a single strategic business unit. "We intend to go big in the transport space," said the source, without giving any details. At the moment, RInfra under the Reliance Airport Developers Pvt Ltd banner operates five brownfield airports in Maharashtra – at Nanded, Latur, Baramati, Yavatm...

Kolkata: The tunnelling work under the Hooghly river, the first such underwater project in the country, to provide metro connectivity between Howrah and Kolkata has been completed. The tunnel is a crucial link for the 16.4 km-long mass rapid transport (MRT) project being constructed by the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC) at an estimated cost of around Rs 9,000 crore. India has joined a select band of nations. Another rare feat achieved by Kolkata after getting the first metro railway in the country in 1984. "The KMRC team, including engineers from abroad, has completed the construction of India"s first underwater tunnel under the Hooghly river," Satish Kumar, the MD of KMRC, said here today. He said tunnelling from the Howrah end started in the last week of April and reached the Kolkata end on June 20. Two tunnels, for onward and return journeys, have been bored 13 metre beneath the riverbed and 30 metre from the ground. The operation of the East-West Metro Corrido...

Popularly known as Metroman, Dr. E Sreedharan had joined the Indian Railways Engineering Service (IRES) as an assistant engineer in 1954, and retired from the organization after thirty-six years of service in 1990. He founded Konkan Rail Corporation Limited (KRCL), spending seven years there, after which he became the managing director of DMRC (Delhi Metro Rail Corporation) in 1997. When he retired from DMRC in December 2011, he was seventy-nine years of age. At that time, having spent fifty-seven years in public service, all he wanted was a quiet life in retirement. However, he was given the task of overseeing the Kochi Metro, the monorails in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, and the construction of the south-west speed-rail track right away. He took on these new challenges at eighty-one with the same earnestness that he had displayed six decades earlier when he walked into the Indian Railways, re-embarking on a work life of non-stop travel, moving between Ponnani, Kochi, Thiruvanant...

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today started trial runs on the 6.5 kms stretch between the Shakurpur and Mayapuri elevated section of the upcoming 59 kms long Majlis Park - Shiv Vihar corridor (Line 7) of Phase 3, also known as the Pink Line. The Trial Runs were flagged off by Dr. Mangu Singh, Managing Director, DMRC in the presence of DMRC Directors and senior DMRC officials. On completion, this corridor will become the longest corridor of the Delhi Metro Network. Delhi Metro’s new UTO (Unattended Train Operations) enabled trains will operate on this corridor. The new trains, with extremely high levels of automation, will now undergo rigorous trials between these stations to ensure that they are ready for smooth operations after the commissioning of the corridor. Initially, train operators will run the trains, but gradually, driverless operations (on the UTO mode) will be possible. During these trials, the interface of t...

Mumbai: The Indo-Italian Chamber of Commerce and Industry is happy to announce a partnership with DITECFER, District for Rail Technologies, High Speed, Safety & Security, in collaboration with ArtValley which hosts projects and international forums for the Italian railway sector. The partnership will be launched on Friday, 23rd June 2017 as "India-Italy Transport and Railways intelligence market-place" on the occasion of the International Conference "India-Italy. Industry and intellectual exchange" during the 11th METEF Fair in Verona, Italy. The conference will see a host of participants from Italian and Indian institutions and global corporations. The partnership is meant to set-up a common platform promoting Italian technologies, know-how and solutions for the booming Indian Railways sector. “Italian Railways provide world class solutions and cutting-edge technologies in rolling stock, rail safety and security, infrastructure and integrate...

Mumbai: Alstom, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), etc have come forward to supply rolling stock to Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) for its Mumbai Metro-3 between Cuffe Parade and Aarey Milk Colony. On Tuesday, MMRC received bids from European, Japanese, Chinese and Indian private companies. These submissions will now be scrutinised for short-listing of companies. The consortiums or companies who have shown interest in the project are Alston Transport India-Alstom Transport SA France, Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles or CAF SA from Spain, CRRC Nanjing-CRRC Changchun-CRRC International Corporation from China, Hitachi from Japan, Japan"s Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation along with India"s BHEL. As per the contract, a total of 31 trains having six coaches each will be supplied for the 33.5-km long underground metro route. The bid worth approximately Rs 2,200 crore is likely to be finalised in next couple of months. A...

Kolkata: A major roadblock in building the East West Metro corridor was removed with the Archaeological Survey of India granting permission today to build the track and a station near three monuments in the heart of the city. The ASI today submitted to the Calcutta High Court a copy of its order permitting the Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) to lay the underground metro line and build Mahakaran station at Dalhousie area, near the heritage Currency Building. The office of the regional director and competent authority in West Bengal of the National Monuments Authority (NMA) today submitted a copy of its permission order to bench of Justice Dipankar Datta, removing a major impediment in laying the metro line. Nandini Bhattacharya Sahu, the competent authority, granted permission for construction of the Mahakaran Metro station in the regulated area near the Currency Building, a national monument. Apart from the Currency Building, there are two synagogues which are also herit...

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today launched the cashless token sale/smart card recharge facility by using Credit/Debit Cards at the Token Vending Machines (TVMs) installed at the metro stations of the DMRC network. This facility was inaugurated by DMRC’s Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh, at the Lal Quila Metro station of Line-6 in the presence of senior DMRC officials. With this facility, the commuters will now be able to use the unattended Point of Sales (POS) terminals at the TVMs by using PIN authentication through their debit/credit cards. Delhi Metro also becomes the first-ever metro system in the country to introduce unattended POS terminals with Debit/Credit card facility. The facility will currently be available at all the 6 TVMs and 2 RCTMs (Recharge Card Terminals) at the Lal Quila Metro Station only. Subsequently, the facility will be rolled out at 36 TVMs/RCTMs of the ITO-Kashmere Gate Section of Line-6, popularly known as Heritage Corridor. By...

New Delhi: The services on the Delhi Metro"s blue line remained affected for over an hour this evening after an overhead wire snapped near Noida sector 15 station. The breakage of the wire, on the line going towards Dwarka, forced the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to run the train services on a single line between Noida sector 16 and Yamuna Bank stations, the DMRC said. The running of trains were affected from 5.31 pm to 6.44 pm after which the services were completely restored, a DMRC release said. To ensure that commuters were not left stranded, train services were run on a single line, through the down line, between Noida sector 16 and Yamuna Bank stations, it said. Short loop services were also introduced between Noida Sector 16 and Noida City Centre stations, it said.

Bengaluru: Kochi got its first metro line today, while Bengaluru too added a line to the existing Namma Metro under Phase 1 of the mega project. Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched the Kochi Metro at 11 am today, while President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the new line of the Bengaluru Metro around 7:30 pm. PM Modi took a ride on the Kochi Metro. He was joined by other dignitaries including Kerala Governor P Sathasivam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu as well as E Sreedharan, popularly known as India"s "Metro Man". The underground section will connect Nagasandra in the northern part of the city with Yelachanahalli in the southern part, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) Managing Director Pradeep Singh Kharola said. The commercial operations will be thrown open from Sunday on Reach 4, 4A and the underground section of the 24.2 km Green Line. The section, marking a 12km-stretch, will not only bring sout...

Lucknow: Shri Mukul Singhal, Principal Secretary, Department of Housing & Planning, Govt. of Uttar Pradesh today visited Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) and reviewed the progress of the Lucknow Metro Rail Project with regards to the commissioning of the Metro ‘Priority Corridor’ in the coming days. The Principal Secretary was accompanied by Shri Kumar Keshav, Managing Director, Lucknow Metro who explained him LMRC’s overall operational preparedness with respect to the start of the public services of Metro in the Capital. Shri Singhal first visited the Transport Nagar Metro Depot where he oversaw the state-of-the-art world class Metro workshop cum maintenance facilities provided at the Depot. Shri Kumar Keshav briefed him about the Operations Control Centre (OCC) from where the entire operation of the train movement and its control would be controlled on real-time by the Chief Controller stationed at the OCC. He also visited the Software Development Centre (SD...

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the first phase of Kochi Metro today at Kaloor International Stadium. While delivering the inaugural address, Prime Minister pointed out that his government  had prioritised three key sectors - Urban infrastructure, Railways and Power in the Make in India programme. "The city"s population has been rising steadily, and is expected to reach 23 lakhs by 2021. Therefore, a mass rapid transport system is essential to address the increasing pressure on urban infrastructure. This will also contribute to Kochi"s economic growth," PM said while stressing on the need for MRTS for urban development. Prime Minister began his speech in Malayalam and expressed his joy in joining the glorious moments of Kochi for completing the project in record time. PM stated that Kochi Metro would be viewed as a model project in urban public transport system with zero carbon emission level. "In PRAGATI meetings, I have personally reviewed nea...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to inaugurate the Rs5,181-crore Kochi Metro on Saturday. The 13-km metro service, the eighth metro service to be made operational in India, is unique in many ways. With its doors opening to the music of Chenda—Kerala’s traditional percussion instrument—to having the longest first phase metro operation in the country and offering free Wi-Fi, the Kochi Metro has many firsts to its credit. Apart from improving a city’s urban mobility quotient, a metro service is highly desirable for its development. While India has metro rail services in the cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Chennai, having a total route length of 326km, new projects totaling 546km are under construction in 11 cities. Also, 13 cities are considering the symbol of modern mobility involving a route length of 903km. Here are the five things to watch out for in Kochi Metro: Shortest commissioning schedule: It has been commissioned in a r...

Hyderabad: Adding three feats to its name in the Limca Book of Records, the L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Limited is the first Metro Rail Project to get featured in the Limca Records. In the latest edition of the Limca book of records 2017 released recently, the three records are mentioned - Train Wrap advertisement during the pre-commissioning stage when three coaches of the first train of HMR during its trail run between Nagole and Mettuguda stations featured the footwear brand Centro for three months from August 7 to November 11, 2014. L&T Metro Rail signed the agreement with Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (Coke) for pouring rights of all 64 stations on HMR for the first seven years. The agreement with Shreyas Broadcasting Pvt Ltd was signed during the early construction phase of the project giving TV5 the exclusive right to be played at the metro stations.

Having taken over the stewardship of the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited in August 2013 when just one Reach of Metro services had been commissioned between M G Road and Baiyappanahalli, Pradeep Singh Kharola is now on the verge of steering the complete 42.3 km Phase-I to fruition.His technical expertise and the ability to get things done are said to have played a crucial role in the completion of this complicated project. Promoted as Secretary to the Government of India in May, the State government had made a special request for his retention as the Managing Director of BMRCL up to December 2017 until Phase-I stabilises. With the inaugural day of the stretch slated for Saturday,  Express caught up with namma ‘Metro man’. Excerpts from the conversation: The first phase is finally going to be commissioned. Did you feel at any time that the project may not materialise? I always had the confidence that I will see through Phase-I. But yes, in mid 2014, when we faced...

Kochi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will flag off the commercial operations of the Kochi Metro in the 13 km-long Aluva-Palarivattom section at a function to be held at the Kaloor Jawaharlal Nehru stadium at 11 am on June 17. PM Modi will also board the train from Palarivattom and travel till Pathadipalam and back along with other dignitaries. “The ride will be taken before the official launch at 11 am,” a metro spokesperson said. PM Modi will fly down to the Naval airport at Willingdon Island on Saturday morning and then proceed to the stadium. Nearly 3,500 invited guests are expected to take part in the inauguration event. A fool-proof security will be deployed at the venue and the route and a high level meet of security agencies is scheduled at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday to finalise the security plan.

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro"s Blue Line services came to a halt today due to a technical snag near Indraprastha station, stranding thousands of commuters, officials said. The Blue Line connects Dwarka Sector 21 with Noida City Centre and Vaishali. "Some strands of overhead equipment wire (OHE) reportedly sagged between Indraprastha and Yamuna Bank section on the line going towards Noida-Vaishali at 4.55 pm," a Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) official said. "The OHE team is taking remedial measures and train movement is being regulated on this section for the time being," he said. The snag forced people to wait for a long time at the stations, commuters said. "I waited for the train at Dwarka station for 40 minutes. But when it didn"t turn up, I took the Airport Line, which is still a fair bet to reach ITO," a commuter said. It took another commuter more than an hour to reach Rajiv Chowk from Noida"s Sector 16 Metro station. "The trai...