New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has flagged-off the Delhi-Faridabad Metro Line that would allow hassle free travel for around two lakh daily commuters between the national capital and the industrial hub in Haryana.
The extension of the Delhi Metro connects Badarpur to Escorts Mujesar in Faridabad.
The total cost of the project from Badarpur to Escorts Mujesar is nearly Rs. 2,500 crore. Out of this, Rs. 1,557 crore was borne by the Haryana Government, the Centre contributed Rs. 537 crore, while the Delhi Metro provided Rs. 400 crore.
All these are elevated and located on either side of the Delhi-Mathura Road (NH-2).
“The nine-station metro corridor which was 95 per cent indigenously built will provide people a safe, affordable, quick, comfortable, reliable, environment-friendly and sustainable transport facility,” a Haryana government spokesperson said.
Haryana Chief Minister ML Khattar, addressing a press conference on Saturday, had thanked the Prime Minister for “gifting” the Metro service which would take the city to “another level of progress” with better connectivity with other NCR towns.
He had also said that the Prime Minister would be announcing the go-ahead for connecting Gurgaon with Faridabad by Metro.
Lucknow: With barely 12 days left to the scheduled public opening of Lucknow Metro as promised by the Akhilesh Government, it is highly unlikely for the Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) to follow all the lengthy procedures and take the necessary approvals in the limited time frame.
Though officials are keeping mum over the possible delay, there is a high likelihood of Metro missing its March 26 deadline to commence commercial operations because of two reasons — seeking approval of RDSO and that of the commissioner of Metro Railway Safety and the team has to wait till the new government is in place to take the chief minister’s approval.
Though RDSO (Research Designs & Standards Organisation) is done with the testing part, preparation of draft report, getting feedback on same and preparing final speed certificate of Lucknow Metro would take at least 14 days, that too only if the RDSO team bucks up. A senior RDSO official told, “There is so much data to tabulate that it will not take less than a week. Around 200 types of data is recorded every second and we have to prepare a second-wise data analysis of almost 30 sensors installed at different places.”
Once the data analysis is over, RDSO will prepare a draft report and submit it to various directorates for feedback. “A week’s time is given to the directorates for approving the report which may take longer in case they find a problem. Once we receive feedback, we would take about 4-5 days to compile inputs and furnish a final speed certificate to the LMRC,” the RDSO official added. After RDSO, LMRC’s major task will be to seek approval from the commissioner of Metro Railway Safety.
Generally, the commissioner takes around 15 days to 2 months for approval, depending on the preparedness of the project. An LMRC official said, “We are trying our best to meet the deadline, but the impact of the changes in current political scenario cannot be ruled out. We are pushing the RDSO to prepare the certificate soon.”
LMRC said it had invited the chief commissioner of Railway Safety once during trials to see the project’s readiness so that he didn’t take much time during actual inspection. Officials said, “Since he is already introduced to the project, he might take 5-6 days for handing us approval.”
(This story has not been edited by Metro Rail News editorial team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
