Metro Rail News Online

New Delhi: The government has outlined big plans for metro rail projects in India, but the latest Union Budget does not reflect this. Allocations made in Union Budget 2018 for the metro rail projects are at a three-year low of Rs 15,000 crore. As per the statistics, in 2016-17 Rs 15,327 crore (actual) was spent on metro projects and Mass Rapid Transit System, the following year in 2017-18 Rs 18,000 crore was allocated and revised estimates remain unchanged. “ Metro Rail Policy, 2017 makes private sector participation mandatory, which is a big change. This change will be a catalyst for creating the right models to attract investment from the private players. This also helps the government in reducing their outlay,” said Rajaji Meshram, Director, Infrastructure, KPMG India. For example, recently Delhi Metro received bids for rolling stock of 25 trains on a lease basis from manufacturers. Similarly, Kochi Metro wants a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for ticketing wi...

New Delhi: The government has outlined big plans for metro rail projects in India, but the latest Union Budget does not reflect this. Allocations made in Union Budget 2018 for the metro rail projects are at a three-year low of Rs 15,000 crore. As per the statistics, in 2016-17 Rs 15,327 crore (actual) was spent on metro projects and Mass Rapid Transit System, the following year in 2017-18 Rs 18,000 crore was allocated and revised estimates remain unchanged. “ Metro Rail Policy, 2017 makes private sector participation mandatory, which is a big change. This change will be a catalyst for creating the right models to attract investment from the private players. This also helps the government in reducing their outlay,” said Rajaji Meshram, Director, Infrastructure, KPMG India. For example, recently Delhi Metro received bids for rolling stock of 25 trains on a lease basis from manufacturers. Similarly, Kochi Metro wants a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model for ticketing wi...

Dear Friends, I am very pleased to take this opportunity to wish our readership, members of the Editorial Team, members of the Editorial Advisory Board, all our independent expert referees, and all members, officers and staff of the Metro Rail News, the publication of Symbroj Media Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi a Very Happy New Year. On behalf of the Editorial Team, I would like to express my gratitude to our contributing readership and our Editorial Advisers and independent referees for their valuable contributions to the success of Metro Rail News Portal and Monthly Magazine. 3 years ago, Metro Rail News had started its journey from the 26th January 2015 as a news portal with aim to provide real development story and updates to the citizens of India, members of metro and rail fraternity and other concerns. From, April 2017 we have started publishing a monthly magazine with depth focus on Metro Rail projects, High-speed rail projects, Urban Mobility, Smart public transportation i...

Hyderabad: Days ahead of the Global Entrepreneurship Summit in Hyderabad where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to commission two stretches of the metro rail , Larsen & Toubro has sought additional time of more than two years to complete the project by November 2019. However, Telangana government has agreed to give the engineering firm further time only till November next year to complete the project. The company, which had a deadline of July 2017 for completing the 72-km metro rail project that will criss-cross Hyderabad in three corridors, has managed to complete only two stretches of about 30 km, which are likely to become operational on November 28. Thirty eight months after it had threatened to pull out of India’s largest metro rail project citing unfavourable business environment in Telangana, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) has sought compensation for the delay in handing over land parcels as per the concession agreement. The company has sought certain concession...

Hyderabad: The upcoming Hyderabad Metro Rail will set a benchmark amidst all other metros in the country for the consideration it has lent in setting up special facilities catering the differently-abled folks. Sri. Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao (KTR), Cabinet Minister of Telangana announces that the Chief Minister of Telangana, Sri KCR has invited the PM of India, Sri Narendra Modi to formally inaugurate the Hyderabad Metro Rail project on November 28, 2017 . Sri. KTR expressed that it is a challenging endeavor to execute a project of scale like Hyderabad Metro Rail. The project started in the year 201 2 and the first stretch of Nagole-Mettuguda involving 8 km was ready by 2016 but the government wanted to ensure end-to-end connectivity, and in this regard, the metro is now ready for operations from Nagole to Miyapur. Hyderabad Metro : Beautiful interior coaches (Photo: Facebook) There are various facilities provided by Hyderabad metro for commuters, while the Secunderabad Metro Sta...

Pune: The Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Maha Metro) is seeking the latest tunnel-boring technology for the 5 km underground route of the Pune Metro rail project to drill through the hard ground under a river bed, a top company official has said. Making a presentation of the Rs 11,420-crore... Click here to see more https://goo.gl/3iK3AE

Nagpur: The trial run of Nagpur Metro rail was flagged off here on Saturday by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Surface Transport and Shipping Minister Nitin Gadkari. It has become the fastest Metro project to reach the trial run stage. The project was inaugurated by PM Narendra... Click here to see more https://goo.gl/mC4S27

Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in association with Metro Rail News (an initiative of Symbroj Media Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi) is going to organise the first edition of Smart Mobility Conference on 20 November 2017 at Federation House, Tansen Marg, New Delhi. A... Click here to see more https://goo.gl/rJyN8c

Lucknow: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday announced the State government will soon introduce metro rail services in Meerut, Kanpur and Varanasi. Addressing the media at a press conference marking six months of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, the Chief Minister... Click here to see more https://goo.gl/Zynmo5

Lucknow: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday announced the State government will soon introduce metro rail services in Meerut, Kanpur and Varanasi. Addressing the media at a press conference marking six months of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state, the Chief Minister... Click here to see more https://goo.gl/Zynmo5

Chennai: For the thousands of techies in the city, commuting across busy stretches to reach the various IT parks could become easier. Chennai Metro Rail Limited will in Phase 2 link some of the major IT parks on Old Mahabalipuram Road and Manapakkam with the rest of the city through metro stations. The phase will cover a distance of 108.4km with 104 stations across three corridors. If everything goes as planned, construction for the phase will begin in 2018 and is expected to be ready in 10 years. "The plan to build stations close to IT companies and parks is to encourage techies to use metro trains regularly. This will take many four-wheelers and two-wheelers off the roads and reduce the road traffic to a great extent," a metro rail official said. "We are also planning to extend beyond Siruseri in the next phase." It will include 20km stretch of the IT corridor along Rajiv Gandhi Salai or Old Mahabalipuram Road, which will be connected through 22 elevated metro s...

Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) is likely complete the Metro-3 corridor ( Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ ) by December 2021 instead of early 2021. It has also reduced the length of the phase-1 corridor. MMRC officials have blamed the revision on protracted legal battles over the cutting of trees and a Bombay high court stay on construction at night . The 33.5-km underground Metro is to be commissioned in two phases. MMRC has reduced the length of the corridor under phase-1, which was originally planned between the Aarey Milk Colony car depot and Bandra-Kurla Complex. Now, the first phase will connect the car depot to the airport. “The first phase, which is from the car depot to the airport, will be commissioned by March 2021. And the second phase, which is from the airport to Cuffe Parade, will be operational by December 2021,” said Ashwini Bhide, managing director, MMRC. The project has faced numerous hurdles owing to opposition and petitions from environmental grou...

Mumbai: A Cuffe Parade resident has moved the Bombay High Court against the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) in connection with the construction of the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro-3 underground corridor. He has alleged that barricades installed by the MMRC for construction have occupied maximum space on the access road leading to his society and the nearby societies making it difficult for the fire brigade to enter during an emergency. Residents from Colaba Woods Sports Complex Marg in Cuffe Parade have said that the MMRC is putting lives of residents in danger due to the Metro work barricades. The writ petition by Robin Jaisinghani prayed that directions be given to the MMRC to restore the road width of the Colaba Woods to at least 12 metres —minimum road width prescribed in Regulation 22 of the Development Control Regulations. According to the petitioner, the MMRC has barricaded the entire road. Now, vehicles heading further north towards Taj Vivanta President Hotel use the ...

Jaipur: The Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) has finally appointed a firm to review the detailed project report (DPR) of  Jaipur Metro phase-II proposed between Ambabari and Sitapura. French firm EGIS Rail SA (the lead firm) in joint venture with EGIS India Consulting Engineers Pvt Ltd and Feedback India Pvt Ltd will review the DPR of 24-km-long corridor. On Monday, the agreement was signed between the firm and JMRC, which was chaired by the additional chief secretary, UDH, Mukesh Sharma. JMRC project director, Ashwani Saxena said, "The DPR will be reviewed by international experts. During the inception meeting official from Jaipur Development Authority, Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC), traffic department and smart city were also presented to extend their suggestions." It was said that firm has asked also for master plan-2025 and necessary traffic data of the route from these departments. As the BJP government was apprehensive to construct Rs 10,00...

Vijayawada: The Amarawati Metro Rail Corporation (AMRC) inviting expression of interest through a Germany based tender agent. The objective of this study is to prepare a detailed Feasibility Study (“Detailed Project Report”) for the city of Vijayawada through validating the MRTS-options and conclusions of the pre-feasibility assessment and assessing the different design options of a Light Metro/ LRT system for Vijayawada. In a pre-feasibility assessment conducted in July 2017, Light Metro/Light Rail Transit was identified as the most suitable mass transit system for Vijayawada. The system would comprise of two corridors (26 km) initially identified for the metro, plus additional extensions as feasible (e.g. to Vijayawada Airport and another corridor of approx. 5 km).The broad indicative scope of services includes the following tasks:- Validation of the mass transit system for Vijayawada based on the alternate analysis provided in the existing pre-fea...

New Delhi: Nine cities will get an additional 313 km of Metro rail connectivity by March 2019, almost double the current 370-km operational length in eight cities since the first metro rail service in 1984 . The cities include Lucknow, Nagpur, Kochi, Hyderabad, Delhi, Noida, Chennai and Bengaluru. According to a media report, close to 537 km of metro tracks are under construction at present. Aside from the Nagpur , Ahmedabad and Lucknow , projects approved by the current National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government, the rest were given the go-ahead by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. With respect to funding, the Central and the state governments follow a 50-50 equity venture model. The Centre gives assistance of up to 20 percent of a project"s costs, excluding land costs. It provides 14 percent equity and the subordinate debt accounting for about six percent. The remaining contributions are taken up by the state government in the form of loans. An ...

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...

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...

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...