AGARA (Metro Rail News): Agra is all set to get an intra-city metro connectivity makeover.
The city famous places like Taj Mahal, Agra Fort etc. will be connected through a world-class public transport system, providing respite from traffic congestion not only to its residents but also the almost 2 crore tourists.

In March 2019, The Union Cabinet approved the Agra Metro Rail Project is estimated at Rs 8,415.63 crore and it is expected to be completed in the next 5 years.  It comprises two corridors which would pass through the heart of the city, connecting tourist spots like the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Sikandra as well as important places like ISBT, Raja Ki Mandi railway station, medical college, Agra Cantt railway station, and the Collectorate.

“while Corridor 1 (14 km) would run from Sikandra to Taj East Gate, Corridor 2 (15.
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4 km) would extend from Agra Cantt to Kalindi Vihar. Corridor 1 would have 6 elevated and 7 underground stations. Corridor 2 would be completely elevated, having 14 stations” said Kumar Keshav, MD of the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation, which is implementing Agra Metro Project.

Agra Metro Route Map

The Union and state governments would each provide 20% equity, amounting to Rs 1466.26 crore, for the project, the rest of the money would be raised through bilateral or multilateral loans. Talks with prospective lenders are going to begin soon, Keshav says—the UP government cleared the decks for the project when it allocated Rs 175 crore under the head in its Budget in February this year.

The Agra Metro project was necessitated by the rapid growth in size and population that the city has witnessed in recent decades. The third most populous city of Uttar Pradesh, Agra’s population grew from 5.9 lakh in 1971 to 15.9 lakh in 2011—it is estimated to be 24 lakh at present. In terms of size, the Agra Development Authority’s geographical area expanded from 61.8 sq km in 1971 to 520.2 sq km in 2008.

Being a part of the Golden Triangle tourist circuit along with Delhi and Jaipur and home to three UNESCO world heritage sites – the Taj Mahal, Agra Fort and Fatehpur Sikri—Agra draws vast numbers of tourists, both domestic and international, every year. While getting to see a monument like the Taj is a dream come true for visitors, traversing Agra’s congested streets can often be a nightmare. The lack of a modern and efficient means of public transport is thus felt alike by the city’s residents and tourists, who have to reckon with traffic congestion, pollution, parking woes, and accidents.

Keshav accepts it would be a challenge to get a project of such scale executed in the congested and densely populated city, especially since stress is being laid on the beauty of its monuments not being impacted. “Our design team is working to ensure that the Metro project does not tarnish the Taj Mahal in any way,” he says, adding that work on both the corridors would run simultaneously and are expected to be complete at around the same time.

NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has given a presentation to the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) on the first phase of the 35.64km long that will connect proposed Jewar airport to Knowledge Park 2 in Greater Noida. In this corridor, 32.27km will be elevated and the remaining will be underground near the upcoming Jewar airport. It will have 24 elevated stations and one underground. The estimated cost is close to Rs 7,000 crore.
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to be completed by March 2025

“YEIDA suggested a few changes, including a completion deadline of 2023 as per Pricewaterhouse Coopers’ (PwC) bid document projections (in the international airport project)” said officials after the presentation on May 9, 2019.

Also, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was told to look at traffic viability in the metro corridor with the techno-feasibility report of PwC (which includes projections of traffic flow from Haryana, Noida, and Delhi) instead of traffic from Pari Chowk to Jewar.

The revised plan will be sent for state government’s approval which slated in another meeting for Friday between YEIDA, DMRC, and PwC, the officials said.

“Mr BC Sharma, GM, DMRC and his team gave their initial draft report presentation on metro connectivity to Jewar from Aqua Line station near Knowledge Park 2.

This included a 35.64km elevated stretch with about 24 stations and a 3.37km underground route close to the upcoming Jewar airport with one station,” said Shailendra Bhatia, additional CEO of YEIDA. However, YEIDA CEO Arun Vir Singh has ruled out completion of metro work by 2025 and instead asked for work to commence at the same time as that of the airport.

“We cannot have metro work incomplete and pending till 2025 while the airport will be ready by 2023. Connectivity should be ready by 2023 that is before the airport becomes operational,” he said. Singh is the nodal officer for Noida International Airport Limited (NIAL), a body constituted by UP government last year, to get the Jewar airport project rolling.

“The entire stretch of the metro route from Pari Chowk to Jewar will have at least one station per sector to facilitate accessibility and commute. Some of the sectors expected to be covered on this route include sectors 17, 17A, 18, 20, 21, 22D, 22E, 28 and 29. However, there might be a reduction in the number of proposed metro stations based on habitation or duplicity of the area. For example, one station may cater to both Galgotia University and Noida International University and there might not be a station at proposed Night Safari on Yamuna Expressway as it does not exist as of now,” said Singh. Further, DMRC was also told to align their traffic projections with the techno-feasibility report of PwC

“We have suggested that DMRC matches their traffic feasibility study with our bid document prepared by PwC which has projections of traffic flow from Haryana, Yamuna area, Noida to Delhi and ISBT, and not an isolation study of traffic between Pari Chowk and Jewar as per DMRC presentation,” said Singh. “These will be finalised in the next meeting on Friday before the final report is sent to the state government for approval,” the CEO said

AHMEDABAD (Metro Rail News): The Ahmedabad Metro’s APMC-Shreyas section, which is the part of 18.87 km long North-South corridor. It was supposed to have been completed in April 2019, but it is now expected to be finished only late 2020. People from west Ahmedabad will have to wait longer to board the Metro Rail.

IL&FS Engineering executed the work on the 4.6 km stretch, but it came to a halt in October 2019 as the company failed to pay contractors owing to financial troubles of its parent company.

In December 2019, The Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) terminated IL&FS Engineering’s contract due to slow progress of work and awarded the contract for the remaining work to J Kumar Infra in January 2019.

GMRC official said “The new contractor has started the remaining work on APMC-Shreyas stretch, but not at full swing. The quantity of unfinished work is quite large, and we expect it to be completed only by late 2020,”

J Kumar had started work, but vendors, who have not received their money from IL&FS, are creating issues. Vendors are refusing to move their materials and equipment from Gyaspur depot until their payment is settled.

“We are trying to resolve the issue to ensure work begins at full pace soon,” added officials.

The 4.6 km long APMC-Shreyas stretch of Metro comprises viaduct and stations at APMC, Jivraj Park, Rajiv Nagar, and Shreyas.

North-South corridor remaning work from Shreyas to Motera, which will pass from Paldi, Usmanpura, Vadaj, and other areas, is also projected to be completed by next year.

“The plan is to operationalise the entire corridor from APMC to Motera simultaneously by late 2020,” the GMRC official said.

On the other hand, the 21.16 km East-West corridor from Vastral Gam to Thaltej is expected to become fully operational by the end of 2021, the official said further. This corridor includes the 6.5 km underground stretch from Shahpur to Kankaria.

“The underground tunnel work has been completed in Kalupur, and it is going on in Shahpur. Work on other stretches is also going ahead simultaneously, which will allow us to begin operations on the remainder of the entire corridor by late 2021,” he said.

It is noteworthy that Metro Rail became operational in the Vastral Gam to Apparel Park stretch of East-West corridor on March 6. The service saw ridership of over 38,100 in March, and 35,000 in April. Three stations on the stretch are operational so far, and Amraiwadi station is likely to be open from next week. Vastral and Rabari Colony stations are likely to open by July-end.

Phase-1 cost rises to Rs12,500 crore

The estimated cost of the first phase of Ahmedabad Metro Rail has gone up to Rs 12,500 crore, from Rs 10,773 crore earlier, an official said.

The increase in cost is mainly on account of change of the changed alignment, which increased length of North-South corridor by 1.5 km, said a senior GMRC official. “The original alignment was along Ashram Road, which was later changed to run along side the railway track, increasing length of the project by 1.5 km. We have paid Rs 500 crore to Railways for acquiring its land. Moreover, height and width of the stations has had to be increased to build entry and exit on both sides of the track,” the official said. GMRC has spent Rs 5,000 crore on the project so far.