AGRA: Work is progressing at rapid pace for the Agra Metro Rail Project. So far, 335 piles and 9 pillar have been erected for the under construction Line-1 of Agra Metro which stretch from Sikandra to Taj East Gate with route length of 14.25 km.

At present, construction activities are going on to build three elevated metro stations namely – Taj East Gate, Basai and Fatehabad road stations. These three stations will be constructed at a cost of INR 272 crores, according to an official of UPMRC (Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation).

UPMRC team will erect three pillars on April 19, out of which two will be for the Basai metro station. Tenders will be soon awarded for the construction of underground metro stations. All these stations will be constructed simultaneously.

Regarding update on the construction of first depot for Agra Metro on Line-1 at PAC ground, boundary wall of 600 meters has been completed so far out of the total 2400 meters. This Depot will be constructed at a cost of INR 112 crores and is expected to be completed by June, 2022.

Line-1 of Agra Metro is partly elevated (6.56 km) and partly underground (7.68 km) with 14 stations. These stations are Sikandra, Guru Ka Taal, ISBT, Shastri Nagar, RBS College, Raja Ki Mandi, Agra University, Medical College, Jama Masjid, Agra Fort, Taj Mahal, Fatehabad Road, Basai & Taj East Gate.

PUNE: Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (Maha Metro) has successfully completed the underground tunneling of 30 metres beneath the Mutha riverbed which is considered as the most difficult work on the 16.59 km Purple Line that will run from PCMC Bhavan to Swargate with 14 stations of the Pune Metro Rail Project.

Under Phase-1, Line-1(Purple Line) has an underground stretch of length 5.019 km from Agriculture College to Swargate with 5 underground stations. The work is divided in two packages – Package 1 from Agriculture college to Budhwar Peth and Package 2 from Budhwar Peth to Swargate. Both packages have been awarded to the JV of Tata-Projects-Gulermek.

Two TBM (Tunnel Boring Machines) i.e. S78 (Mutha) and S79 (Mula) were commissioned last month to build twin tunnels. Work on 1.6 km underground tunnel from between Agriculture College and Shivajinagar has been already completed. Tunnel work for the stretch between Civil court to Budhwar Peth started in March. After few days, Maha-Metro entered the riverbed of the Mutha river. The total width of the riverbed is 90 metres and of that, water flows in the 30-35 metres stretch while the remaining portion remains dry.

According to the Director of Maha Metro, Atul Gadgil, “We have crossed the 30–35 metres stretch beneath the river. We have almost reached the other side of the edge of the riverbed and we will pass it in the coming two-three days.”

With this work, Pune has become the 4th city in India after Kolkata, Chennai and Mumbai to have an underground metro rail crosses the river.

In another news, around 2,000 Pune Metro workers have left the work as a result of lockdown imposed in the state of Maharashtra as corona cases continue to rise at alarming rate. This might result in missing deadlines for the project. Similar situation arise last year also when around 70-75 workforce left the work due to the fear of corona causing slow progress to the work.

According to MahaMetro communications team head Hemant Sonawane,” We had started vaccination for employees and told them they need not worry about anything, as work will go on. There were no issues with stay or food – everything is managed at labour camps. But many of those who still left are bachelors or don’t have connections around the city. The common sentiment is that in case they get infected by COVID, there will be no one around for them and they will suffer. Now, work will obviously be hampered and we might end up missing deadlines.”
At present, work is going on two lines of Pune Metro with Maha Metro has fixed deadline of June to start operation on 8 km stretch from PCMC to Dapodi (Line-1)and for Vanaz to Garware College (Line-2) stretch by August 15 of this year. These deadlines may miss if workers do not return for work.

DELHI: Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has issued new guidelines as the weekend curfew is imposed in Delhi in order to control the rising cases of Covid-19 in the capital.

According to DMRC, “In view of the curfew imposed by the Govt. for coming weekend for the containment of Covid-19, Metro services will be available with a headway of 15 min across the whole network on the weekend i.e, on 17th and 18th April 2021.”

“The two sections, where there is a bifurcation in the network i.e, Noida/Vaishali section of Blue Line and Kirti Nagar/Inderlok section of Green Line, the headway will become double i.e. services will be available after every 30 minutes in these sections.” It further added.

Delhi Metro’s Flying Squads are ensuring compliance on daily basis and penalising those commuters who are not wearing a face mask properly and not following social distancing.

The weekend curfew was imposed as Delhi saw a massive increase in corona positive cases. From 9th April to 16th April, more than 97 thousand people have tested positive for Covid-19 and around 600 people have died. On Friday, Delhi recorded more than 19 thousand cases which is the highest number of corona cases recorded in a single day.