Chennai Metro inter-modal connectivity at Egmore

CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): Chennai Metro plans to remove the fencing between Egmore Metro station and the suburban platform so that passengers can quickly walk across while changing their mode of transport. As per the officials of CMRL, now if people exit the station, then they have to cross the parking lot climb the foot over-bridge and then get to the suburban platform of Egmore Railway station.

“If we remove the iron fencing, they can reach the suburban platform immediately. We didn’t earlier foresee that passengers would have to take a circuitous route to reach that platform. The idea of providing inter-modal connectivity is that passengers should never feel the strain of switching from 1 mode of transport to another. In the coming weeks, we will remove the fencing and put up signage as well,” said an official.

Presently CMRL has also inter-linked the concourse level of Egmore Metro station to the foot over-bridge that would take passengers to the suburban platform of Egmore Railway station. The pathway from the concourse level that would lead passengers to the lift and it would take them to the foot over-bridge said, officials. They have installed signage at many places to supervise passengers as well.

Egmore Metro station is an important station as thousands of passengers go to the railway station to catch outbound trains from Chennai. Sources told that there should also be signage at the Egmore Railway station at some important areas, telling commuters the way to the Egmore Metro station and they should also put up Metro Rail timings.

Kochi Metro comes up with Bookstall, soon

KOCHI (Metro Rail News): Commuters taking the Kochi Metro usually spend minutes at the station and on the train. Mostly choose to use the phone is an option to pass the time. For them, Kochi Metro has come up with the plan to open bookstalls at some major stations. The aim of this idea is to allow people to purchase books and help them make better use of the time while waiting to reach their destinations.

KMRL will grant licences for running bookstalls at the Aluva, Edappally, M G Road and Maharaja’s College metro stations. It has also invited ‘Request for Proposal’ from interested parties for licensing bookstall spaces inside the selected metro stations. The licence would be allotted for a 7-year period.“The primary responsibility of the bidder would be developing a bookstall with a state-of-the-art facility in the available space,” stated a Kochi Metro officer.

After getting inputs from passengers on their preferences Kochi Metro decided to float tenders to start bookshops.“During an interactive session, several commuters pointed out the lack of entertainment throughout their journey. We also realised that there were many commuters who did not want to be stuck to their mobile phones to pass time while travelling.

Interestingly most of them recommended books as a solution,” declared a KMRL officer. He said that a Thykoodam-bound commuter who enter the train from Aluva metro station spend 40 minutes inside the metro train. “Hence, we are not looking for a big book shop that offers commuters the space to sit and read.

The concept is to start a state-of-art bookstall with a good collection of books. We know there are few good airport reads (books to read while waiting at the airport). We hope to grow a similar culture with our commuters and nurture the readers in them,” told the officer. He added KMRL was expecting some leading publishing houses to show interest in setting up the facility inside the metro stations. The bidder can also quote for one or more locations.

Kolkata East-West Metro tunnel work got fresh cracks, work stalled

KOLKATA (Metro Rail News): On Friday, Kolkata East-West Metro tunnel-boring work was stopped after some hours when fresh cracks were spotted on some buildings in Chaitan Sen Lane in Bowbazar. The lane is nearby Gour De Lane where several buildings had caught cracks or subsided after a tunnel-boring machine had hit an aquifer in August. The accident led to the suspension of East-West work for almost 6 months.

Sources declared the tunnel-boring machine will remain closed till Saturday. The engineers will investigate the buildings in the lane to figure out whether the cracks were growing. “If the cracks do not grow and fresh cracks do not appear the tunnel-boring machine will resume work on Sunday,” stated an official of KMRC, the implementing agency of the project.

The total distance of 16.5 kilometre East-West Metro will connect Salt Lake Sector V and Howrah Maidan through a stretch under the ideal Hooghly river. A group of Kolkata Metro engineers visited Chaitan Sen Lane and talked to residents on Friday, trying to help in their fears. Crack-meters have been installed and residents were convinced that the new cracks will not affect the buildings.

“The cracks are very thin and they won’t cause the buildings to collapse,” an engineer stated while talking to the residents of the lane in the afternoon. “Some of the cracks have developed after the tunnel-boring machine crossed this part of the lane.”

Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation had evicted some families from Chaitan Sen Lane before the machine continued work a few days ago. Engineers told there was no need for further evacuation.

MMRDA unveiled colours for Metro 7 & 2A signages

MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): The MMRDA released a document on Friday to set design guidelines and assign official line colours to the Mumbai metro line 7 and 2A in their extensions which are in a different stage of execution.

The Metropolitan Commissioner of MMRDA, R.A. Rajeev stated that having colours is necessary as this makes it language agnostic and hence more convenient to people. “We have chosen to have a black background across the stations for signages.
We have picked black as it is the colour of fashion and Bollywood, and Mumbai is the fashion capital.”

Systra created the signage designs and is based on the designs incorporated at 4 stations which are Metro de Paris, French National Railway Station SCNF, Metro De Marseille, and Algier Metro.

The signage has incorporated various colours for entry and exits and will have many colours at stations where 2 or more lines converge. “The work on putting up news signs will start at Bandongri station on Metro Line 7 in 2-3 weeks,” said Mr Rajeev.

The Metro Line seven being built between Dahisar and Andheri and the Metro Line 2A being constructed between Dahisar and D.N. Nagar are supposed to be operational by December. The MMRDA has also planned to have a unique colour for all its upcoming and under-construction metro lines in the capital.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority also unveiled the design of the common mobility card that will be available for Monorail and Metro at first. Mr Rajeev stated that work on creating the framework for the card was underway and will be available by the time the Metro corridors were commissioned.

CMRL forms Panel to acquire land for Phase-2 project

CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): Rather than fighting lengthy legal battles, Chennai Metro Rail has started acquiring land for Phase-2 project by talking with the property owners through a private negotiation committee to accelerate the process. Good Shepherd School in Nungambakkam has given the land for building Sterling Road Junction metro after a delay.

An official told that they have acquired several properties by the private negotiation committee. “Recently we cleared five cases including those for Kellys, Chetpet, Adyar Gate junction stations,” the official stated. “Private talk is mutually beneficial instead of long legal battles as we make people understand they can give us the land for more than the market price which they may not get by fighting a case,” said an official.

For the project, CMRL needs 117.12-hectare land to build the 118.9km phase-2. Private negotiations along with property owners come after Chennai Metro faced challenges in acquiring land for the construction work of the 45km phase-1. This time, Chennai Metro is making changes to the design and area of stations wherever possible to cut down on the amount of acquired land.

For instance, An official stated they have taken over 17,495 sqft rather than 0.88 acres, as was already planned from Good Shepherd school a major part of this is the school’s playground.

On Friday, CMRL has given a cheque to the school authorities for providing the land. “We are not taking the playground. We have taken over a portion of land from a corner of the school campus where there is a school block. We will rent out the building to the school for a year till they get a new block ready,” said an official.

Hyderabad gets 2 New Metro Train

HYDERABAD (Metro Rail News): L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad which has established and runs the Hyderabad Metro Rail has been making ₹40 cr per month including ₹30 cr from passenger ticket charges and ₹10 cr from property development that enables it to ‘break-even’ in terms of running operations and maintenance currently.

However, having funded ₹12,674 cr in the project including around ₹12,000 cr loan from SBI led a consortium of banks, L&TMRH has to pay ₹1,300 cr profit annually. So, it could take anywhere from 7-8 years for the project to break even, said HMR MD N.V.S. Reddy on Tuesday.

In communication with presspersons at the Metro Rail Bhavan, he confessed that even the Centre had disbursed ₹1,200 cr from the ₹1,458 cr Viability Gap Funding made open for the Public-Private Partnership project; the rest of the money is yet to be sanctioned even though the Law Ministry has given permission.

“Unlike other metro projects across the country built with Centre-State government funds with low-interest loans from agencies like JICA – Japanese International Cooperation Agency of 1.5%, HMR was built with commercial bank loans taken at 11% interest and even now vested interests have been lobbying against the project preventing further funds infusion,” he accused.

The overall project cost is ₹21,000 cr since ₹14,132 cr is meant only for metro works, ₹2,500 cr was spent by State govt for properties acquisition, utilities shift and L&TMRH sunk in ₹3,500 cr inequity and ₹2,243 cr for business development but it could spend ₹900 cr latter having used the rest for other activities, stated Mr Reddy.

AECOM awarded DDC contract for Patna Metro corridors 1 & 2

PATNA (Metro Rail News): The Joint Venture of AECOM Singapore Pte Ltd and AECOM India Pvt. Ltd emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for the Detail Design Consultant (DDC) contract for Patna Metro Rail project corridor 1 & 2.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) issued Letter of Acceptance (LoA) of the DDC contract worth Rs 17.27 cr to the consortium of AECOM Singapore Pte Ltd and AECOM India Pvt. Ltd issued by on 18th Feb 2020.

This contract includes providing detail design consultancy (DDC) services for civil, architectural and building services including electrical and mechanical (E&M) works for Patna Metro Rail Phase I Corridor 1 & 2. AECOM need to complete the work in four years.

Total of four bidders participated, a consortium of AECOM Singapore-AECOM India emerged the lowest bidder (L1). 

Participates and bidding amount for Patna Metro Corridor 1

Participates bidding amountRank
AECOM Singapore-AECOM India JV Rs 16.870 croreL1
EGIS Rail-Intercontinental JV Rs 17.550 croreL2
Ayesa India-Fountainhead Rs 18.649 croreL3
ENIA–Amberg–STUP JV Rs 21.970 croreL4
Systra MVA Rs 23.770 croreL5

Participates and bidding amount for Patna Metro Corridor

Participatebidding amountRank
AECOM Singapore-AECOM India JV Rs 17.273 croreL1
Ayesa India Rs 17.929 croreL2
EGIS Rail Rs 23.00 croreL3
Systra MVA Rs 24.435 croreL4
ENIA JV Rs 24.583 croreL5

In Nov 2019, DMRC invited tender for detailed design consultant contract (DDC). In which Rs 29.30 crore estimated corridor 1 and Rs 27.50 crore estimated for corridor 2 of Patna Metro metro rail project.

About Patna Metro Project Corridors

  • Corridor 1: Danapur – Mithapur Bus Stand (14.89 km, 11 stations)
  • Corridor 2: Patna Railway Station – New ISBT (17.64 km, 14 stations)

Currently, CEG Group, a Jaipur based firm is executing the soil testing work at 10 locations on the Patna Metro corridor.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) appointed as General Consultant for the Patna Metro Rail project and given the responsibility to execute the  Patna Metro phase I project.

Maha Metro begins Construction on Gaddigodam Multi-Layer Transport System

NAGPUR (Metro Rail News): Maha Metro has begun the construction work on one of the most ambitious segments of Maha-Metro project which includes the development of Flyover and Metro route over the existing road and railway line at Kamptee Road. The structure one of its own kind will create 4 layers transportation mechanism at Gaddigodam, Kamptee Road. 

Central Railway recently approved to begin construction over Railway Land at Gaddigodam. Piling work has accordingly been commenced. The proposed double-decker construction crosses Railway Line at Gaddigodam near Gurudwara on Kamptee Road. This is a most complex and challenging project work to be taken out ever, mainly over the ever-busy Railway line and the narrow road at Gaddigodam Railway-under-Bridge.

The structure at Gaddigodam crossing has 4 tier transportation system. The primary level is the surface road level under the current-carrying road traffic; the 2nd level is Railway Track. After the construction is over, the 3rd and 4th levels will be flyover and Metro Rail level respectively. The four-layer structure is the need of the hour considering every busy road and the traffic blockage there.

The way has multiple academic institutions, commercial establishments, banks, govt offices lined up on each side of the road. It also serves a link among northern and southern areas of the city. RBI, Kasturchand Park, Sitabuldi Fort are some of the historic and prominent institutions on the road. The Reach-II section of Nagpur Metro Rail Project, which includes the 4-levels transit system, stretches from Sitabuldi Interchange to Automotive Square Metro Station and is 7.30 kilometre. It consists of 7 stations viz., Zero Mile, Kasturchand Park, Gaddigodam Square, Kadvi Chowk, Indora Chowk, Nari Road and finally Automotive Square station. The double-decker structure on Reach-II section stretches to 5.3 kilometres. The flyover at the third level has four lanes for flyover traffic with every path having a width of 7.50 meters.

Technically, a steel composite truss girder of 1400 MT is to be launched over the Railway tracks by suitable launching method. The steel weight composite truss girder of the 80-meter span is around 1400 MT. The RoB structure consists of pile foundations, piers and portal beams and superstructure is steel composite truss girder of the 80-meter span. The RoB structure height is around 25 meter from road level.

Few of the prominent features of the project are as follows:

  • The proposed flyover and the metro route share `Right of Way’ – the two structures to be built on a single pillar, thus saving cost and also reducing the usage of road space.
  • The fly-over structure would commence from LIC Square and culminate at Automotive Square, both placed on the busy Kamptee Road.
  • The 4 levels are i. Kamptee Road, ii. Nagpur-Bhopal Railway Line, iii. Fly-over iv. Metro via-duct.
  • The Metro via-duct maximum height would be at Gurdwara at Gaddigodam, where the rail line moves over the road.
  • Maximum height of fly-over across the stretch would be at Gaddigodam, where the railway line crosses the road – 14.9 mts.
  • In the same way, the max height of via-duct across the stretch will be at the same area – Gaddigodam, where the railway line crosses the road – 24.8 mts.

Maha Metro to use 3 TBM to complete underground Metro

MAHARASTRA, INDIA (Metro Rail News): Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (Maha Metro) has decided to complete the project using 3 Tunnel Boring Machines, rather than the previous plan to use 4 TBMs, after observing with 2 TBM performing better than assumed in underground Metro construction work.

Maha-Metro is implementing the Pune Metro project and has also undertaken work for the underground Metro route from Agriculture College to Swargate. It was expected to use 2 TBMs to construct 2 parallel routes from Agriculture College towards Kasba Peth and 2 more for parallel routes from Swargate to Kasba Peth.

“Two Tunnel Boring Machines that were operational from Agriculture College were to cover 8 metres per day, but they can cover 12 metres per day. Thus, the work schedule is further ahead than planned, and it has reached Shivajinagar now,” stated Brijesh Dixit, chairman of Maha-Metro. The 2 TBMs are supposed to keep the same pace of work, Dixit stated.

“The distance to be covered by two TBMs starting from Agriculture College would be more, so there will be less distance to be covered by the TBM starting from Swargate. Thus, there would be only one TBM from Swargate which will construct both routes starting from Swargate,” he added.

Meanwhile, Maha-Metro is facing difficulties in acquiring the required land for the construction work of the underground Metro station at Mahatma Phule Mandai.

GM Manoj Joshi with KMRC senior officers inspects Phoolbagan Metro Station

KOLKATA (Metro Rail News): Metro Railway GM Manoj Joshi, with senior officers of Metro Railway and KMRCL, reviewed Phoolbagan Metro station of Kolkata East-West Metro on Wednesday.

As per the sources, the review continued for 2 hours from 10-12 noon. Manoj Joshi reviewed the condition of the track, booking counters, ticket gates, signalling system, the functioning of screen doors, escalators and lifts at the metro stations. Phoolbagan, the sixth station of the 1st phase of East-West Metro, is still undergoing a review by the Commission of Railway Safety.

RFI is also supposed to begin from March in the presence of China special team. The visit of the team from China is likely to be delayed because of the coronavirus fright. Once all the formalities of the inspection are complete, Metro Railway will send the review report to CRS for final inauguration nod of Phoolbagan station. The station is supposed to see its inauguration by April last week or first week of May.

KMRCL is implementing the East-West Metro project from Salt Lake Sector V to Howrah Maidan, with a distance of 16.5 km. The first phase of East-West Metro, inaugurated by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal on Feb 13. It was started its operation for the public on Feb 14.

The East-West Metro path will be over-ground from Sector V till Subhas Sarovar station and then it will go underground. In the whole stretch, around 520 metres of tunnelling work has been done underneath River Hooghly.

NCRTC invites bid to build two stations of Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor

New Delhi, India (Metro Rail News): The National Capital Region Transport Corporation Limited (NCRTC) invited bids to build elevated viaduct from Sarai Kale Khan station to New Ashok Nagar Down-Ramp including Jangpura Entry ramp and two elevated stations i.e. Sarai Kale Khan & New Ashok Nagar of Delhi–Meerut RRTS Corridor.

Package 6: DM/CN/COR-OF/095: Construction of elevated viaduct from Sarai Kale Khan station to New Ashok Nagar Down Ramp including Jangpura Entry ramp and two Nos. of elevated stations i.e., Sarai Kale Khan & New Ashok Nagar (including Pre-engineered steel roof structure but excluding Architectural Finishing of Stations) of Delhi – Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) Corridor.

The document of tender can be downloaded from the NCRTC website or e-Procurement portal from 21 February 2020 to 14 April 2020 up to 03 pm.

  • Tender Notice No. DM/CN/COROF/095
  • Completion Period: 910 days
  • Last date of submission: 7 April 2020 up to 11 am
  • Opening of Technical Bids: 14 April 2020 at 05 pm

Pre-bid meeting details

The pre-bid meeting shall be conducted on 6th March 2020 at 1100 hrs at the following address:

 National Capital Region Transport Corporation Ltd

 Corporate Office Extension/GC office

 Under CWG Village Flyover at Khel Gaon,

 Near Akshardham Temple,

 New Delhi–110092

Eligibility Criteria

  • The bidder must have a minimum average annual construction turnover of Rs 9,132 million calculated as total certified payments received for contracts in progress or completed, within the last five years;
  • The bidder must demonstrate that its financial resources meet or exceed the total the subject contract of Rs 1,522 million;
  • Participation as a contractor or JV partner in similar works for infrastructure projects in buildings/airport/road/metro railways/high-speed railways/light railways/railways that have been completed or substantially completed within the last Ten (10) years ending the last day of the month previous to the month of bid submission.

L&T bags Rs. 1797 cr civil contract for Delhi-Meerut RRTS corridor from NCRTC

NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) opened the bids for the civil construction package Package-1(DM/CN/COR-OF/058) and Package-2 (DM/CN/COR-OF/059).

L&T, which is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, emerged as the lowest bidder (L1) for the civil construction package Package-1 and Package-2 work.

For the construction work of package-1 elevated viaduct from Duhai (EPE) to start from North Modi Nagar and two elevated stations via Murad Nagar and Modi Nagar South (Excluding architectural finishing and pre-engineered steel roof structure of stations) of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, there are four contractors participated i.e L&T, Afcons, NEC, JMC respectively.

Participants and Bidding Amount

Bidder NameQuoted AmountRank
L&T784.00 CroreL1
Afcons871.25 CroreL2
NEC969.75 CroreL3
JMC1035.05 CroreL4

As well as for the construction work of Package-2 elevated viaduct from the start of Modi Nagar North station to Shatabdi Nagar station and elevated stations via Modi Nagar North, Meerut South, Partapur, Rithani & Shatabdi Nagar of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor, there are three contractors participated i.e L&T, Afcons, NEC respectively.

For the Package-1 construction, L&T quoted Rs 784 crore against the estimated value of contract Rs 860 crores and for the package-2 construction, L&T quoted Rs. 1013.95 crores against the estimated value of contract Rs 1096 crores.

Participants and Bidding Amount

Bidder NameQuoted AmountRank
L&T1013.95 CroreL1
Afcons1114.97 CroreL2
NEC1235.45 CroreL3

The total distance of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor is 82 kilometres long. The construction work on the 17-kilometre first section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is continuing on in full swing. Along with construction work of pillars has been underway between Sahibabad and Duhai. First girder (segment) for the viaduct of Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS Corridor has been cast at NCRTC’s casting yard located at Vasundhara, Ghaziabad. The viaducts will also be soon visible on the ground. The operation on the main section is proposed from March 2023. The main section has four stations which are Sahibabad, Ghaziabad, Guldhar and Duhai.

CRCHI delivers two TBMs for Bangalore Metro Phase 2’s Tunneling

Bengaluru, India (Metro Rail News): Larsen & Toubro (L&T) Construction receives two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) for the construction of underground (UG) tunnels on 13.885 km Dairy Circle – Nagawara section of Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project in Bangaluru on 20th February 2020. 

China Railway Construction Heavy Industry (CRCHI), a Chinese Tunnel Boring Machine manufacturer has delivered Both TBMs i.e. DZ669 (Avni) and DZ670 (Urja) successfully. 

Both TBMs will deploy for excavating and building tunnels on Dairy Circle–Nagawara underground section of Bangalore Metro’s Line-4 (Reach 6) by L&T Construction. This section is part of the 73.92 km long network of Bangalore Metro Phase 2 project.

Both Ø6.65m slurry TBMs were dispatched to Bengaluru by China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. (CRCHI) in November 2019 after completing factory acceptance tests (FAT) at Changsha plant, China.

Both TBMs 1st arrived at Chennai Port in the first week of February 2020 after that its parts were loaded on the trailers and transport to Bangalore by road.

According to plan, L&T will deploy TBM DZ669 (Avni) 1st from Shivaji Nagar Station to construct tunnels on 2.755 km section of package RT-02 (Vellara Road Station–Shivaji Nagar). 

The 2nd TBM DZ670 (Urja) will be deployed from Cantonment Station to construct tunnels on the 2.884 km section of package RT-03 (Shivaji Nagar Station–Tannery Road). After this TBM (Lavi) will follow the TBM DZ669 (Avni) and TBM Vindhya will follow TBM DZ670 (Urja). 

TBM Lavi passed the Factory Acceptance Test in December 2019.

In January 2018, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation had decided to place the Cantonment Station at Bamboo Bazaar instead of the original location which was closer to the Railway Station.

Chennai-Mysore High-speed rail corridor land may be stumbling block

CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): The ministry of Railways may have started looking for a consultant to construct a high-speed rail corridor between Chennai-Mysuru by Bengaluru, but senior officials state, it would be a costly project, with land acquisition alone expected to take up a major part of the cost.

They tell 50-60 metres would be needed throughout the 425-km stretch and estimate that almost 5,000 acres would have to be acquired to lay 2 lines along with the route.

Acquiring such a large extent of land can become a stumbling block in addition to the expense of building the line and fencing it on both sides so that the trains can travel at speeds up to 300 kmph without any obstacle, said by a railways official.

“They may have to build elevated lines while passing through towns and cities to avoid disturbing land. This alone will cost around 150 cr per km. Availability or willingness to acquire the land has been a major stumbling block to laying high-speed railway lines. Fresh land will be needed because the line cannot be alongside existing lines that include inclines and curves,” he added.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad high-speed line too has been stuck in a land acquisition row and has been paused for more than a year. Sources tell the estimated project cost ridership and the optimal route may be exposed after surveys are conveyed before receiving any approvals from the railway board, state govt and the Union govt. The high-speed corridor is probably to be built along existing or proposed expressways.

“The aim is to meet growing passenger demand and optimise the high-speed rail connectivity between major cities/commercial and economic activity centres,” stated the bid record.