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Mumbai: Seven months after floating bids for construction of DN Nagar-Mandale Metro-2B corridor, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) has hit a roadblock with the corridor still lacking a crucial nod from the Airport Authority of India (AAI). The elevated Metro corridor will run parallel to funnel zone of the Juhu aerodrome. Due to this, the height of the elevated Metro-2B will have to alter as the Juhu aerodrome consists of an emergency runway. It is also one of the busiest heliports in the country. According to MMRDA officials, it is the AAI nod that will be crucial for commencing civil construction work on Metro-2B corridor. Funnel zone is an area where there are height restrictions and where construction of more than four storeys is not permitted. The restrictions are imposed due to two reasons. First, the area is in the funnel of the runway and periphery of the airport for takeoff and landing of aircraft. Second, to ensure that radar signals are not distrib...

Bengaluru: A decade after it was first proposed, the state government has decided to scrap the Light Rail Transit (LRT) project. The proposed JP Nagar to Hebbal light rail corridor, a 31.3-km stretch on the outer ring road, could now become part of the Namma Metro Phase 3, which is currently on the drawing board. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah ordered shelving the LRT project during a recent review meeting of infrastructure projects, according to a senior official in the Chief Minister’s Office. “There is little difference between Metro rail and light rail. Also, the LRT does not fit the scheme of things because we want to have a standardised Metro rail network along the outer ring road,” the official told to Media, requesting anonymity. While shedding the decade-old baggage, Siddaramaiah also ordered the Bangalore Airport Rail Link Ltd (BARL) — a special purpose vehicle that designed the LRT project — to wind up. The LRT project has been handed over to the Ba...

New Delhi: The construction sector in the country is expected to witness a boost in its order book due to the strong traction seen in the Metro rail sector, according to rating agency ICRA. The rating agency expects orders from the Metro rail sector to help boost the order book of the construction industry by Rs 75,000 to Rs 90,000 crore over the next three to five years. "The overall cost of expansion of operational and under-implementation Metro projects is over Rs 2.5 lakh crore. This would support the order books of construction contractors.Further, Metro Rail projects (MRP) worth another Rs 2 lakh crore are at various stages of approval and are likely to come up for bidding within the next five years," ICRA said in its note. "Roads and urban infrastructure, including Metro Rails are two key segments that have witnessed robust order inflows for the construction companies. Further, with a sizeable pipeline of projects i...

New Delhi: The metro rail network in the country is increasing with the mass rapid transit system emerging as one of the best solutions for urban transportation. Even as eight metro rail networks covering a length of 370 km are operational in the country, over two dozen more projects are lined up. Out of the two dozen projects, around 15 are lined up with the urban development ministry. The cities that have lined up their plans include Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Vijayawada, Kozhikode, Indore, Bhopal, Patna, Guwahati, Kanpur and Varanasi. A senior urban ministry official, on the condition of anonymity, said, “Success of Delhi-NCR metro brought enthusiasm in the state governments and they want to replicate the same in the cities with population of over 1 million. We are getting a lot of proposals and many of the state governments are also looking at public-private partnership (PPP) since urban transportation is a state subject.” He added that Central assistance is given...

New Delhi: As mass rapid transportation penetrates cities like Kochi, Jaipur and Lucknow, it throws open opportunities for companies like Alstom, Bombardier and Hyundai Rotem. Contracts for rolling stock, signalling and electric systems have helped these companies put up manufacturing units, too. Now, the blue print for metro services in two cities in Madhya Pradesh — Indore and Bhopal — is also ready. In all, the government has identified nearly 50 Tier-II cities and towns for modern metro systems, herein, lies the next big wave of business for the companies. The Indore metro project is expected to come up at a cost of Rs 7,522.63 crore, including financial cooperation from Asian Development Bank (ADB) and New Development Bank (NDB). The Bhopal metro rail project will come up at an estimated cost of Rs 6,962.92 crore and is being funded by European Investment Bank (EIB). The expected e...

Bengaluru: Amid the raging controversy over the usage of Hindi in Metro trains, the government has come under pressure to take a clear stand and formally ask Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) to use only Kannada and English in signages in trains and stations. Pro-Kannada activists gearing up for a large-scale protest against the alleged imposition of Hindi have urged the government to come up with a clear-cut policy, without which confusion over the language issue will continue to disturb law and order. BMRC officials say they are caught in a bind and can not remove Hindi from signages without written instructions from the government. "The government has to make up its mind and take a decision before the situation gets out of hand. With agitators disfiguring signages at Metro stations, the situation has become fluid. We are helpless as we are still awaiting the government"s instructions," a BMRC official said on condition of anonymity. Activists of Karnataka Raksha...

Kolkata: Rail Vikas Nigam Limited (RVNL) submitted its final feasibility report of a high-speed bullet train in the Delhi-Kolkata corridor earlier this month. A bullet train — capable of covering the 1,474.48km distance between the two metropolises in 5.24 hours flat, at a speed of 250kmph to 270kmph — would cut down surface travel time between the two metropolises by around 12 hours. The current fastest train on this route, the Rajdhani Express, takes around 17 hours. The project will be completed in phases, starting in 2021, said a railway source. The Delhi-Varanasi corridor will be covered in the first phase. Within that, the Delhi-Lucknow stretch will become operational by 2029, and the first phase will be completed by 2031. For "bullet-speed" travel to Kolkata, you"ll have to wait till 2039, a source added. The terminal station will be Shalimar. "We had also thought of the Kolkata (Chitpore) station. But congestion is higher on the east bank of the Hooghl...

Thiruvananthapuram: A high-power committee headed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan today decided to expedite the process of land acquisition for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode light metro projects. The committee also entrusted Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Principal Advisor E Sreedharan to decide the technology to be used for the two projects, estimated to cost over Rs. 6,000 crore, a government press release said. The Thiruvananthapuram light metro will cover 21.8 km from Karamana in the city to Technocity in Kazhakootam. It was also decided at the meeting to conduct a study with regard to extending the light metro from Karmana to Papanangode. The light metro projects were approved in 2015. The project was to be implemented through 20 per cent capital investment each from the Central and state governments and remaining 60 per cent was to be raised through loans. The government has already given sanction to acquire 1.98 hectares land in the capital city and 1.44 hectares in K...

Kolkata: The Goods and Services Tax (GST), which subsumed all indirect taxes and was implemented from July one this year, is likely to raise the construction cost of East-West Metro being constructed by Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC).  "GST will definitely raise the construction cost. But the exact amount of the rise is yet to be ascertained.", KMRC managing director, Satish Kumar said. Briefing reporters here today, he said that tunneling work under Brabourne Road in the city has been completed and work on the Esplanade station already started. There will be five levels at Esplanade station and function as a confluence of the three metro railways - the East-West Metro, North-South Metro and the Joka-BBD Bag Metro. Work on the Mahakaran metro station will start soon, he said adding that the first phase of the project from Salt Lake to Phool Bagan have been targetted to go operational from June 2018. Kumar said that entire stretch from Howrah Maidan to Salt Lake was exp...

Mumbai: Having already received six pre- qualification bids for the rolling stocks, Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) is hopeful of opening financial bids for the same by the end of next month for the Line 3 that connects the city"s southern tip to the airport and beyond. The Rs 23,136-crore, 33.5-km-long Line 3 connects Colaba in the southern tip of the island city with Bandra- Seepz in the north via the international airport and is the biggest infra project that the city has ever seen. Also, on completion by 2022, the Line 3 will be the fifth largest underground metro in the world. "We are hopeful of opening the financial bids for rolling stock for the Line 3 by the end of August. We"ve already received good pre-qualification bids from as many as six domestic and global consortia," said MMRC managing director Ashwini Bhide. The consortia are Alstom Transport India-Alstom Transport France; CRRC Nanjing-CRRC Changchun-CRRC International Corp of China, Kawasaki He...

New Delhi: Metro trains in the Capital will run as usual on Monday, with employees of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) calling off their strike subject to implementation of their demands assured by the DMRC Management in a series of high level meetings on July 22 & July 23 till evening. “The ongoing protest by DMRC’s non-executive employees was called off on Sunday evening after all the issues raised by the agitating employees were  assured to be settled amicably following many rounds of meetings and deliberations with DMRC’s managing director, Dr. Mangu Singh and other senior officials,” said Anuj Dayal, chief spokesperson at DMRC. “In light of the above, the Delhi Metro services will continue as per schedule tomorrow (Monday),” he added. The announcement came after the corporation assured and agreed to the demands of its protesting non-executive employees that included reinstatement of Ex. RTI Supervisor Vinod Shah who was remov...

Ahmedabad: Top-notch design institute, National Institute of Design (NID), has bagged Metro rail’s project to design signages on the entire stretch of the railway line, including stations which will connect Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. The project, led by professor Tridha Gajjar, coordinator, graphic design, will have two experts and a consultant working on the designs. Confirming the development, NID director Pradyumna Vyas said, “It is a very proud moment for us to work for betterment of the city by contributing our designs to projects like metro rail, airport beautification etc.” Professor Gajjar said they had been asked to create an identity for Metro rail and design signages. “We have been given a deadline of six months in which we have to give them designs of six prototypes for stations and roads. We have started work and are studying the metro route. The visual identity of Metro rail should be such that one can relate to it at once,” she said. An exper...

With the intention of reducing his work load, 85-year-old E Sreedharan visited Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath last month to offer his resignation from the role of advisor to the Lucknow and Kanpur Metro projects. But he returned to Kochi with more work. “He (Adityanath) said ‘I’m not allowing you to resign. In fact I’m also adding Varanasi, Agra and Meerut… and also Gorakhpur’,” said Sreedharan, seated in the conference room of the DMRC office in Kochi, on Thursday afternoon. Sreedharan, known as Metro Man to many for his supervision of various Metro Rail projects, said that while surveys have begun in Gorakhpur, Agra and Meerut, “the first phase of the 10.5-km line of the Lucknow Metro is ready and waiting for inspection from the Commissioner of Metro Railway Safety”. Giving an update on the Metro plan in UP, Sreedharan informed that the “depot is ready in Kanpur” and the “project report of the Varana...

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government will start a metro service in Coimbatore and expand the network in Chennai, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said on Wednesday. Considering the increasing traffic in Coimbatore, the government has decided to have a metro rail service there. A detailed project report will be prepared on its feasibility, Mr Palaniswami told the assembly. He said the report will be prepared by Chennai Metro Rail Ltd and the proposed project will be secured from German agency KFW. Also, the government has given policy-level clearance for the second phase of metro rail service in Chennai involving an outlay of around Rs. 88,897 crore, Mr Palaniswami said. He said the proposal has been sent to the central government for clearance.

New Delhi: Delhi Metro’s non-executive staff, including train operators and maintenance workers, today launched a broad level protest demanding reinstatement a metro employee terminated in last month illegally and withdrawals of all charge sheet, show cause notices served to other metro employees with malafide intention.  The protesting staff, wearing black bands, gathered at metro stations and train depots across Delhi-NCR and raised slogans against the management in between their work shifts, staff council secretary Anil Kumar Mahato and joint secretary Mukesh Kumar, who is leading the protests. There was no large-scale disruption in services. The protesting staffers also highlighted alleged financial irregularities and corruption in recruitment of neara and dear once by the management in the organisation. Mr. Mahato has threatened to escalate the agitation and enforce a “total shutdown” of metro operations on July 24, 2017 if the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (D...

Chennai:The much needed foot over-bridge (FoB) in front of Alandur metro station is yet to be constructed, as tenders floated twice by CMRL failed to find a contractor. Commuters heading to the station are still forced to cross the busy GST Road or walk a few metres from the station to take a dimly lit subway. Metro rail officials said they were not able to find a contractor as they were not satisfied with the deal suggested by companies that had applied. CMRL first floated tenders to build the foot over-bridge in late 2016 and later in early 2017. The plan was get the facility in place before the end of this year. Companies that had applied asked for more time to meet the CMRL"s specifications, metro officials said. According to their tender invite, the company that takes up the contract would have to build the bridge with additional facilities like escalators and elevators for the convenience of pedestrians. Alandur metro station, which is an elevate...

New Delhi: Commuters on Delhi Metro"s Violet Line had a hard time on Saturday evening, when the automatic doors of a train could not be closed. This delayed the services for at least half an hour at the Central Secretariat metro station. The technical glitch occurred during the evening peak hours between 6.30 pm and 7 pm. The Violet Line which connects Delhi"s Kashmere Gate to the satellite town of Escorts Mujesar, Faridabad is one of the busiest at an interchange station. A large crowd swelled on the platform while the train was stuck because of the glitch. This put all the other trains on the line on hold. "I was to board the train from Central Secretariat to go to Moolchand. One of the gates of the train did not close," said Aysuhi Mittal, a marketing professional who is a regular Metro commuter. While the Metro"s technical staff tried to fix the glitch, operations remained shut for around 20 minutes. "After several unsuccessful attempts to rectify the ...

New Delhi: The DMRC was today pulled up by the Delhi High Court for trying to "cover up" the "inefficiency and ineptitude" of its officials, who failed to locate a mentally challenged woman after she was separated from her family while travelling on metro. The 19-year-old woman, who went missing on April 21, was yesterday found wandering in Rewari district of Haryana by a policeman who took her to a Child Welfare Committee where she is being sheltered, the court was today told by the Delhi Police. The court also directed that standard operating procedure (SOP) be put in place to deal with such situations. A bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Najmi Waziri, while pleased by the efforts of the police and the "good samaritan" who helped the woman, did not mince words when it came to how the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) conducted itself in the matter. The bench told the DMRC that the responsibility of its officials was not limited to collection of re...

Bengaluru: Namma Metro"s Phase II has received a shot in the arm with the European Investment Bank (EIB) granting a loan of about Rs 3,650 crore (500 million Euros). EIB is the leading financier for Phase II and the second international lender to fund the 72-km project. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) is expected to use this money for the construction of the 23-km Gottigere-Nagawara line, which consists of 12 underground and six elevated stations. The deal was approved on July 14 with a repayment period of 20 years. In 2015, French funding agency Agence Francaise De Development (AFD) extended a Rs 1,500-crore loan for Phase II. This is in addition to the Rs 810 crore that the AFD lent for the now complete Phase I. The total cost of Phase II is an estimated Rs 26,404 crore. Of this, the Centre and the State are granting Rs 5,281 crore and Rs 8,983 crore respectively. BMRCL has to raise Rs 12,140 crore in the form of debt. Three foreign lending institutions have backed ...

New Delhi: After a failed public-private partnership (PPP) model to execute metro rail projects in India, the government will spend Rs 2.5 lakh crore to implement metro rail projects in various Indian cities, said ratings agency ICRA. The spending will be over the next five years, eventually helping not only the stressed infrastructure companies to present stronger financial results, but also companies involved in manufacturing and supply of rolling stock, it said. The government of India has standardised specifications for rolling stock and signalling systems for metro rail so that "Make in India" can be promoted. A month ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during the inauguration of Kochi Metro, had said, "A number of initiatives have been taken to enhance public transport in the cities. Foreign investment has been invited in this sector. Fifty cities in India are ready to implement metro rail projects." In fact, in April 2017, the Union government also issued a Na...

New Delhi: Delhi Metro"s Airport Express line, which connects the centre of the city to the Indira Gandhi International Airport, will now be extended till Dwarka Sector-25. With the extension, commuters will be able to travel between New Delhi and the upcoming Exhibition-cum-Convention Centre in Dwarka Sector-25 within 25 minutes. The Centre has been planned and is being constructed on the lines of ITPO and Indian Habitat Centre. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), after receiving an in-principle nod from the Centre, has already conducted the feasibility study for the extension. The entire stretch will have a twin box tunnel and the underground station, namely Exhibition-cum-Convention Center Metro station (ECC), is expected to have footfall of 10,000 people daily. The DMRC worked out the budget and allotted Rs 310 crore for the design and construction of the twin tunnel by cut-and-cover method and architectural finishing of an underground Metro station. The Corporation has given...

Lucknow: The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) is equipped with most modern train protection system which ensures non collision of trains. A minimum distance between two trains is maintained through train protection system. The moment this minimum distance is crossed in the train the automatically brakes are applied. The modern state of art, Light weight stainless steel LMRC trains run on 1435 mm Standard gauge and will carry 1574 passengers. The coach has a width of 2.9m. It is expected to reduce the journey time between 50% to 75% depending on the road conditions. LMRC Trains are designed to run at the maximum speed of 90Kmph and at an operational speed of 80Kmph . The average speed will be approximately 33 to 34 Kmph. LMRC Train will have the most advance signalling and train control system- called the communication based train control system which can be upgraded to virtually driverless mode. The train has regenerative braking which saves 30% to 35% of traction energy. Talkback...

New Delhi: Delhi Metro commuters can now cheer as work is on to make Lajpat Nagar Metro station, in South Delhi, the second biggest interchange station of the Delhi Metro network. So far, Kashmere Gate on the Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) is the biggest interchange with three metro lines crisscrossing here, and hence having the highest number of commuters. Currently, work on Lajpat Nagar Metro station is at Phase-III. By October 2017, the Pink Line (Majlis Park to Lajpat Nagar) will be open. Between Majlis Park and Lajpat Nagar, there will be 18 metro stations, proving to be a boon for commuters. Post October, work will begin for Phase IV. The project will have three lines intersecting at this station, making it one of the busiest stations in Delhi. "In Phase-IV Lajpat Nagar will be connected to the Yellow Line Huda City Centre - Samaypur Badli). The new 7.96 km corridor between Lajpat Nagar and Saket G-block will begin. This will in total make three lines meeting at this stat...

Mumbai: The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Mr. Devendra Fadnavis promised Mira-Bhayander residents that Metro will be extended up to Gaimukh and assured to conduct a feasibility study immediately. “MMRDA is meant to develop the metropolitan region and we are committed to fulfill your requirements. I promise you an integrated transport system and also a stadium at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Maidan in Mira Road”, the Chief Minister was speaking at the Bhoomipujan ceremony for the 403 MLD Surya Regional Water Supply Scheme on Monday. The Chief Minister further announced a Ro-Ro service which will carry passengers and vehicles around areas Gorai, Borivli, Bhayander Vasai etc., ”This would mean that the Mira-Bhayander area will get connectivity through Railway, Metro, Road and Water”, he said.  

Mumbai: Once again the monorail is back in the news and this time too for wrong reasons. The Mumbai monorail that was heading towards Chembur from Wadala developed a technical snag and stopped after reaching near Chembur station. The incident took place at around 9-9.30 pm on Saturday and the train filled with passengers, suddenly developed technical issues. The monorail had reached the Chembur platform halfway when it suddenly ceased to operate. Another train arriving from Wadala had to then towed the monorail to the end of the platform. All the passengers are safe and this incident is currently under investigation," said an MMRDA official.

Bangalore: The Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation (BMRC) had temporarily suspended metro train services on Friday as employees staged a protest over alleged manhandling and arrest of two Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited officials after a scuffle with security personnel. As many as four lakh commuters were stranded when they found all stations had been closed, police said. "Train service temporally stopped," Bangalore Metro"s Twitter handle said. The services were resumed later after negotiations with police and BMRCL officials who prevailed upon the employees to withdraw the protest, officials said. BMRCL employees were demanding the release of two of their officials arrested yesterday when they got into a scuffle with Karnataka State Industrial Security Force (KSISF) personnel deployed at a station here. The Metro employees and KSISF personnel reportedly exchanged fisticuffs and abuses over a row on security checks at Sir M Visveswaraya Central College station. So...

Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) today said its joint venture firm has bagged a contract worth Rs 797 crore from Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation. "Hindustan Construction Company, a lead partner in the joint venture with URC Construction, has been awarded Rs 797.29 crore contract by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd," HCC said in a BSE filing. The contract is for construction of 6.340 km long elevated corridor and five elevated stations between HSR Layout station and RV Road Station. HCC"s share in the JV is 51 per cent (Rs 406.61 crore). The project is to be completed in 36 months.

Chennai: Integral Coach Factory (ICF) is itching for an on-track showdown with the world"s top coach-makers in the hope that it can provide metro rail companies in the country with the most efficient and cost-effective rakes. The Chennai coach manufacturing unit, owned and operated by the Indian Railways, has approached metro rail companies, including Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL), for a trial order of one prototype rake — coaches that form an entire train — so they may compare its performance against those manufactured by firms like Germany"s Bombardier and France"s Alstom, whose coaches Indian metro rail companies currently operate. ICF rakes, made with indigenous technology, can cost just 50% of the price of foreign units, experts said on Tuesday, as the coach-maker flagged off its first high-quality rake for the Kolkata metro in the presence of Railway Board chairman A K Mittal. A couple of CMRL officials were at ICF when Mittal flagged off ...

Hyderabad: The State Government has permitted the HMRL to complete the entire Hyderabad Metro Rail Project, other than the 5 km stretch in the Old City and 1 km stretch between Hitec city and Raidurg, latest by November 2018. The original deadline for construction was ended on Tuesday.  Some delays were caused in completion of the project due to multiple court cases in acquisition of some properties at critical points. So, Government has agreed for extension of deadline by 17 months, according to Managing Director HMRL, NVS Reddy. Further, Chief Secretary, S.P.Singh reviewed the progress of the project and noticed that that some properties to be acquired are not coming in the way of the Metro Project. He gave instructions to both the Collectors of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts and Commissioner, GHMC to complete acquisition of the remaining properties for widening of roads in Sultan Bazar and Nampally. The State Government advised HMRL to gear up for launching the completed st...

New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) today launched the cashless token sale/smart card recharge facility by using the Bharat Quick Response (QR) Code displayed at the Token Counters & Customer Care Centres of Metro stations. This facility was launched by DMRC’s Managing Director, Dr. Mangu Singh at Rajiv Chowk Metro station in the presence of senior officials. With this facility, the commuters will now be able to use the Bharat QR Code, which is being provided by HDFC Bank, displayed at the Token Counters/Customer Care Centres through their respective Bank"s App installed in their smartphones. All Bank wallet and savings account holders can make payments using Bharat QR by logging into their Bank App and scanning the QR code available at stations. Currently, this facility is made available at five Metro stations namely, Rajiv Chowk, Rajendra Place, Seelampur, Pitampura and Nehru Place only. Subsequently, the facility will be introduced in a phased manner at all M...