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.
NAGPUR (Metro Rail News): MahaMetro is installing panels atop its stations at a fast pace as it aims to meet 65 per cent of its energy requirement from solar. Its aim is to install a total 14 MW and so far 1 MW has been installed and the work is going on other 1.5 MW.
A Metro official told that solar energy was a win-win situation for the agency. “A private operator installs the panels by Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a central govt undertaking. We don’t spend a penny on it. We just provide the space in our stations. The operator sells power to us when the panels are installed. We get electricity at less than half of MSEDCL’s power tariff,” he said.
“At present, we are meeting 85% of the electricity requirement of our stations by solar. Panels have been installed atop 6 stations and Metro Bhavan. The monthly average generation is more than 1 lakh units. Till date, we have exported over 2.5 lakh units of electricity to MSEDCL. More than 10.5 lakh units of solar energy has now been generated that saved more than Rs 82 lakh for Nagpur Metro Rail Project so far,” stated the spokesperson.
Further, he added that installation work at 2 depots and 5 Metro stations for 1.5 MW capacity was in progress. Maha-Metro is in the process of signing agreements for the construction of another 3 MW for upcoming ten stations and depots.
More than 5 MW would be installed by March 2021. Maha-Metro is one of the 1st Metro Rail agencies to go for solar energy right from inception. Various agencies began switching to solar when they were asked by the central govt and when their electricity bill ran in crores.
Going green helped Maha-Metro assured loans worth around Rs4,500 cr from German agency KfW and French agency Agence Francaise de Development. As per the foreign lending agencies prefer projects that are green spokesperson.
“We are using green energy wherever possible as it is our aim to reduce pollution in Nagpur. Our feeder vehicles would run on electricity or LPG. Our stations have bio-digesters to recycle water. Our stations have got Indian Green Building Council ratings,” he said.
CHENNAI (Metro Rail News): Indian Institute of Technology Madras is regulating India’s first Global Hyperloop Pod Competition in a bid to raise awareness and enthusiasm regarding Hyperloop in India, according to a statement from the institution on Wednesday.
The competition is open globally and in July 2020 the final round would be held in the IIT-Madras campus. Called the ‘Indian Hyperloop Pod Competition,’ the objective is to promote student teams in India along with abroad to develop a Hyperloop Pod and compete to make the fastest, most innovative & efficient design and prototype of the related technologies in the range, as per the statement.
Hyperloop is the fifth mode of transportation a high-speed train that travels in a near-vacuum tube. The decreased air resistance provides the capsule in the tube to give speeds of more than one thousand kmph conveying people or objects at high-speed where being very effective.
This competition is for all the engineering colleges over the world to ideate, design and executes their ideas for the Hyperloop Pods. Moreover, can be obtained from the event website – https://ihpc2020.web.app/’. 1000 kmph Decreased air resistance provides the capsule in the tube to reach speeds more than 1000 kmph.
BENGALURU (Metro Rail News): The Phase-II Metro is in limbo because of land acquisition issues. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) is still to hand over land to the contractor to start the construction work. The most critical of the acquisition issues faced by it is for NICE and forest lands as per BMRCL’s fresh newsletter.
“The work on Nagasandra-NIEC corridor is held up because of non-availability of NICE lands. The Karnataka high court stayed the proceedings of acquisition of NICE land for Bommasandra-RV Road corridor and 2 properties in Nagasandra-BIEC corridor,” shows the newsletter.
On forest lands, the state govt has provided BMRCL approval to acquire 18.1 hectares in Kadugodi plantation and also 0.7 hectares in UM Kaval required for Kadugodi & Anjanapura depots sequentially.
“The expert committee constituted by the govt has investigated the area and is still to give permission for cutting/translocation of trees,” said BMRCL. Though the state govt mooted a Mumbai, like war room previous year to fast-track the Metro projects, it’s still to take off.
Given that Namma Metro’s average speed of work is 4 km every year as against 25 km every year in Delhi Metro, experts have urged the govt to resolve land acquisition issues. India’s Metro Man E Sreedharan had said that per day’s delay will cost BMRCL about Rs 1.5 cr higher every day.
Land acquisition for the much-delayed underground corridor among Dairy Circle-Nagawara with 14 km long distance is also expected to be a challenge. The previous year L&T got bids for executing the underground sections from Vellara Junction-Shivajinagar with 2.7 km long distance and Shivajinagar-Pottery Town with 2.8 km distance. It also ordered 4 TBM but the land acquisition issues on certain sections are still to be solved.
Bengaluru Metro has said that it is still to start work on the stretch connecting Tannery Road-Pottery Town as the Wakf Board has not been able to convince its tenants to vacate its shops.
LUCKNOW (Metro Rail News): Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) has taken precautionary steps and issued advisories in keeping in mind the public interest, health and safety aspects of its passengers because of the coronavirus threat, an official stated on Tuesday.
According to them, measures have been undertaken for sanitation and personal hygiene of commuters at all the Metro stations from the Chaudhary Charan Singh airport-Munshi Pulia.
The actions taken by the Metro staff include the periodic announcements in the trains and at the Metro stations via public announcement system, they told adding that the corporation is transmitting awareness by video messages and posters.
Customer care centres, ticket counters, TVM machines, entry & exit gates, hand railings in the trains and at the Metro staircase are being cleaned and sanitised regularly at frequent intervals. Station controllers, security personnel and customer relation assistants are wearing gloves and masks during dealing with passengers.
There is a provision for tissue papers and sanitisers for commuters at every washroom, as per the officials, adding that a special emphasis is being laid on mopping and cleanliness. MD of the corporation Kumar Keshav has urged all the passengers to comply with the guidelines declared by the WHO.
KOCHI (Metro Rail News): Kochi Metro project Phase-II from Jawaharlal Nehru International Stadium (JNIS) Kaloor-Kakkanad, is still to get the Centre’s sanction.
The Centre should accord it all necessary clearance since the stretch is one of the most essential infrastructure requirements of the city including the nod from Public Investment Board, stated Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden during the zero hours in the Parliament on Tuesday.
He said the initial stretch of the metro among Aluva-Palarivattom and Palarivattom-Maharaja’s College was commissioned in 2017 where the 2nd line from Maharaja’s College to Vyttila was commissioned in 2019.
“It was after overcoming many hurdles that Kochi Metro became operational. However, the phase-II and related extension plans are lagging. Hibi declared where PIB cleared various metro rail projects in 2019, it ignored Kochi Metro,”.
The 11.3 km long extension from the Kaloor stadium under the phase-II would have eleven stations including Palarivattom Junction, Palarivattom Signal, Chembumukku, Vazhakkala, Kunnumpuram, Kakkanad Junction, Cochin Special Economic Zone, Chittethukara, Rajagiri, Infopark-I and Infopark-II.
“According to the feasibility report, the stretch ensures a minimum ridership of 50,000 commuters every day. Further, the travel woes of people would also be solved to an extent. Woman commuters would also be profited,” said Hibi.
The execution of trend
setting innovations, for example, following frameworks, programmed taking care
of frameworks, electronic information exchange, and so on aides in expanding
effectiveness. In this way, interests in the reception of bleeding edge advancements
by numerous administrators are developing and is relied upon to further quicken
the development of the market. Furthermore, the interest for multimodal
coordination with following advances that take into consideration start to
finish shipment perceivability is additionally expanding.
Some of the key players in
the global rail freight transport market include Union Pacific Railroad, CSX
Transportation, Canadian National Railway, Norfolk Southern Railway, Swiss
Federal Railways, BNSF Railway, DHL, United Parcel Service (UPS), DB Cargo, and
Canadian Pacific Railway.
Newer projects implemented
by government are helping the market to expand at a most lucrative CAGR in the
coming years:
The street transportation is
the overwhelming method of transportation and records for over half in a large
portion of the nations. Be that as it may, expanding street blockage, expenses,
and discharges is moving the concentration toward the rail freight development.
As of late in July 2018,
China has declared that it is intending to expand the rail freight, so as to
battle against the developing exhaust cloud. This displays an enormous open
door for the administrators in rail freight transport and administrations
market.
China’s aspiring One Belt
One Road activity, which incorporates transport halls associating east and
west, the rail transport in Central and Eastern Europe is required to become
further alongside China and other Central Asian nations.
The global rail freight
transport market is relied upon to observe high development during the estimate
time frame inferable from the expansion on global exchange, which is setting
off the interest for transportation exercises.
The quickly developing
economies of the created and creating nations, urbanization and rising extra
cash, and so on are prompting an expansion in the progression of merchandise.
Creating framework, reception of cutting edge innovations, and so forth are a
portion of the key elements driving the development of the rail freight
transportation and administrations.
Be that as it may, the
activity of the railways by government in a portion of the nations may prompt
wastefulness and ascend in expenses. The components, for example, limitations
forced on outside section and different boundaries, are restrictions to the
development of the market in certain nations.
The rail freight transport
is shabby when contrasted with different methods of transportation and is
increasingly effective as it enables bigger volume of payload to be transported
to long separations. The transport of merchandise via train lessens the measure
of fuel and discharges.
MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): Metro line 7A Civil work that will connect Mumbai airport-Andheri East Metro station has started and will be finished by December 2021. This would be the 2nd underground Metro line the other being the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz Metro line 3. Another underground corridor is planned between Wadala-GPO.
An extension of Metro line 7A which connects Andheri East-Dahisar East will have 2 stations. In 2018, the MMRDA accepted the green signal from BJP-Sena govt for extending Metro line 7 till Mumbai airport and on Dahisar side till Mira to Bhyander.
Metro line 7A Work was assumed to begin in January 2019 but fund-sharing issues with airport authorities delayed the project, according to sources.
The MMRDA in charge of the Metro corridors in the city and Mumbai Metropolitan Region has awarded the civil contract for Metro line 7A to J. Kumar Infrastructure.
Metro line 7A is a 3.2 km long corridor 0.98 km elevated and 2.915 km underground. This would be 2 tunnels. The expected cost of the project is Rs 6,607 cr.
BENGALURU (Metro Rail News): Religious places are acquired for the Bengaluru Metro project only when it is necessary, said Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited on Monday.
“For Bengaluru Metro Phase 2 project work 33 religious places in which, 30 temples, 2 churches and 1 mosque were acquired,” said BMRCL senior manager, TL Ravi Prakash. buy viagra super fluox force online no prescription
BMRCL said there won’t be any damage to the church because of the construction works, responding to protests staged by the All Saints Church for nearly 300 days.
“Metro alignment on Hosur Road is 36 m distant from the All Saints Church building and does not pass below it. An open area of 1,140 sqm with some trees in front of the church building is needed for construction of the underground Metro station,” he replied.
Also, he stated the area needed in vacant land on a temporary basis for 3 years of period and number of trees to be cleared only 26.
“There will not be any damage to church structure by Metro construction work. One of such work was that of Cubbon park underground Metro station which was constructed at a distance of just 3 m from more than 100 years old CTO building without causing any damage” continues the release.
The construction industry strongly relies on the contractual norms and conditions for its legal, regulatory, and formal obligation of work. As we know, a contract is an agreement enforceable by law. Broadly, there are three types of contracts classical, neoclassical, and relational contract. Clarity and correctness and contractual documents reduce at least 30% of project risk. As the need for development in increasing day by day, there is also a growing need for adoption of modern technologies, smart contracts methods, regular amendments in regulations and laws. Which in turn requires highly collaborative decision-making teams and well-planned processes for the successful execution of project delivery.
The traditional contracts assume that risk and liabilities of the project lie with the party who is best capable to handle the risk on its own. It becomes very difficult for any stakeholder in such cases to anticipate probable threat/opportunity without the help of other stakeholder’s involvement.
Relational contracting is a term itself suggesting about the relationship in the contracts. Relational contracting is based on mutual benefits and win-win situations through more cooperative relationships between one or more stakeholders.
The relational contracts are not the form of any contract, rather it is about having good relationships between two or more stakeholders, contributing towards the successful completion of the contract. It is the arrangement of a cooperative or a team approach to deal with the accomplishment of best project outcomes. It is a system of exchange trying to express acknowledgement to the commercial relationship between the stakeholders involved in the contract.
How it is different than conventional contracts?
The traditional form of the contract includes contingencies which act as a buffer to be spent at the time of uncertain/delay events. In engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) mode all the stakeholder’s bear the expenses/losses associated with deviation from contractual clauses if it is mentioned in the contract. The classical contract type usually covers all major and minor contingencies with an aim to avoid disputes due to discrepancy at any stage of the project, whereas neoclassical contract type covers all contingencies same as classical but also hires dispute resolution committee to resolve the dispute and get back on track to complete the project at the expected performance.
The need for relational contracts is the lacking of the other two types, in terms of the increased complexity of projects and the emerging need for mutual understanding among the stakeholders. In relational contracts, responsibilities and benefits of the contract are allocated decently and transparently, with tool for delivery that emphasis on trust and partnership.
The key feature of relational contracts.
Relational contracts are generally long tenure involving the social give-and-take between the stakeholders, mutual trust, relational connection, responsibility to explicit accomplices and cooperative resolving the issues. Again, the relational approach is firmly connected with partnerships and strategic alliances with the contractors maintain a strategic distance from hostile ways to deal with the contract by highlighting the stable bonding mechanisms involving the long-term collaborative agreements on informality, shared resolving issues, correspondence and high trust. The fundamental aim of using a relational contract is to bring cooperative social behaviour among parties and being significant relational clauses/terms as part of the contract.
Views
on how it can make the difference to the construction industry, if used.
The use of relational contracting models in business commonly and in the construction industry, in particular, has grown over the past thirty years and has attained significance internationally. The construction industry usually involves various stakeholders, and sub-contractors, which are inter-dependent to each other. The degree of mutuality and interdependence and the requirement for trust and collaboration are significantly amplified. As a consequence, the construction contracts are typical relational contracts. The nature of construction itself, often highly specialised, complex projects, involving multiple stakeholders with prolonged durations for initiation and completion, require relational approaches even on the simplest of building projects.
In the construction industry, this can improve working relationship between all project stakeholders, can encourage proficient and viable development, can enhance financial returns and can minimise the incidence and make simpler the goals of conflict at a project level. The adoption of relational contracting approaches can make a noteworthy contribution to the advancement of social capital, and the four pillars of sustainable communities, those of connectedness, citizenship, creative citizens and competitiveness.
Opportunities and challenges associated with relational contracts
1. Resolving issues/problems with a collaborative approach:
All the responsible, proficient and competent authority to come and discuss on a common platform and put up their views in the discussion to resolve the problem/issues and conclude the issue with the appropriate solution together, instead of just censuring the other party or just countering through correspondences. The mutually resolving the issues/problems with cooperation amongst all the stakeholders will form a bond of trust and ensure towards the successful completion of the task. The aim of the parties should be to work towards common goals and objectives of the project
2.Contributing towards the successful completion:
Successful completion of the project considering all the
conditions of the contract without any deviation until it’s obligatory. Again,
if there is need to deviate from the contract conditions, the decisions shall
be in favour of the successful completion of the project to its best outcome,
considering the key factors like time, cost and quality.
Irrespective of the stakeholder (say client or consultant or contractor), if one reminds the other regarding any pending matter/correspondence, just giving a reminder on call, instead of later on blaming them for the same reason, will help in completing that particular task within the stipulated time frame. When a similar methodology is followed throughout the project, all the critical activities can be controlled with mutual efforts and trust amongst all stakeholders leading to the successful completion of the final outcome. Project duration also plays a vital role, longer the project duration, higher the chances that changes may occur, thus a coordinated and collaborative approach is needed to run the show.
3.Mutual trust
Mutual trust amongst all the stakeholder’s involved plays the major role as it avoids the criticism of the opposite party/agency by addressing the issue with all appropriate solutions towards the successful completion of the task. At any cost, an environment of trust shall be created by top management in the organisation to avoid any kind of conflict within team members.
4.Culture
The culture of the organisation plays a vital role in the relational contract. The work environment should be such that it enhances effective communication and should be able to eliminate the barrier of miss-communication at all levels with a healthy work culture within the organisation and among other stakeholders as well, to share and implement useful project-based solutions for the problems.
4.Good faith
It is complex to define and put good faith into contractual terms, but it can be referred to as an informal agreement among stakeholders to work with honesty for the betterment of the project. It means parties need to act diligently, interpret contract on fair terms, a common language for the contract, refrain from either party for using their positional powers, delivering without understanding the scope of work, etc.
5.Risk
The project risk are to be identified in detail at the beginning of the project as well as periodically with the concern of all stakeholders, and qualitative and quantitative assessment shall be conducted to find the root cause and eliminate/reduce the impact of such risks.
6.Work Flexibility
Projects of complex nature are more prone to changes in terms of scope of work or deviations from the agreed scope of work. The parties involved in the project shall be aware of such uncertainties and shall be ready to accommodate changes by means of sharing risk or transferring to third parties like insurance companies.
7.Dispute Resolution Board (DRB)
DBR should be formed to resolve, mediate, adjudicate claims if in any case remains unsettled over the difference in opinion or change in work
scope.
Is India ready for relational contracts to
be used in metro rail?
Metro rail projects in India is taking shape as a promising mode of transportation for urban areas. As such projects are mega infrastructure projects and involve many stakeholders into planning, execution as well as operations. It is very difficult to accommodate and consider the opinion of each and every stakeholder while making decisions. The relational contracts are most suitable in such conditions. Some characteristics which suggest why Metro rail projects in India shall use relational contracts are:
Long-term relations: As metro rail projects are majorly funded by foreign players, it is very essential to make a long term promise for investor related to revenue generation from such projects. Relational trust gives the opportunity for more investments and timely funding for the smooth completion of projects.
A high degree of flexibility: Heavy engineering projects are inflexible in nature due to high initial investments and due to constraints of resources. The relational contract gives a large degree of flexibility as other parties are aware of work complexity and contingency plan is in place to accommodate changes.
Project repayments: Metro rail projects are forecasted for 30-40 years for revenue generations, to maintain good relation with banks a detail and precise financial appraisal shall be put forth to win the confidence of investors.
Project Communication: Top management of any project spends 90% of their time in communication. It is very crucial for the team to deliver correct information to an internal and external team of the project to avoid any dispute due to misinterpretation of said information.
What are the key benefits of using
relational contracts for metro rails?
It encourages parties to strive for common goals and objective of the project to deliver on time metro system for faster commute in the cities as well as within the budget and with quality standards.
Most of the time, in Metro projects contractor usually takes the major risk in the project whereas client/consultant moreover supervise or assist the ongoing works; relational encourages knowledge sharing and alert from other parties of their expertise.
Encourages parties to share risk and reward associated with the projects.
While drafting the requirements metro projects have complex elements, it suggests following agile work practices to accommodate changes as the project progresses.
Encourages equal participation and effective communication from all stakeholders.
The relational contract has the potential to provide long term benefits to metro rail projects, as an interest of the government and private parties are in line with the project objectives. The projects are bound to follow legal and contractual obligations but only by adding relational to it, accountability and ownership of project get enhance leading to the successful and satisfactory completion of the project and developing commercial relationship between the stakeholders involved in the contract.
Authored by
Mr. Padmadip Bhavesh Joshi (PMI-CAPM), PGP-PEM, NICMAR, Pune
Ms. Suhani Khetani Bachelor’s in Construction Technology CEPT University, Ahmedabad
NAGPUR (Metro Rail News): For the proposed Nagpur Mumbai High-Speed Railway, the Railways Board is weighing the option of a Samruddhi Corridor alignment, whose DPR is being made by the National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited.
The project is facing some issues including the land acquisition for the proposed high-speed rail track, as per the senior railway officer. “It will be too quick to comment on how the HSR would move through the Mumbai – Nashik – Nagpur route. There is a Greenfield project in one of the proposals being weighed.
The lands prepared with the Samruddhi Corridor cannot be ruled out,” declared the officer. The state-owned National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited that is also looking after the construction work of the Mumbai–Ahmedabad HSR service, commonly denoted as the bullet train, has been assigned the responsibility of preparing the DPR and the exercise is possible to take about a year’s around time.
Further, the officer pointed out that a survey will be 1st carried out to settle the best route among the 2 cities. “Since this would be a high-speed corridor, where trains will run with speeds exceeding Two-hundred kmph, the existing alignment is of no use. That can best serve semi-high speed trains running in speeds in the range of 150 kmph-180 kmph. Hence we have to go for new alignments,” the officer responded.
The officer told that the Samruddhi Expressway can play a guiding role in the new high-speed rail track. Land acquisition is the largest hurdle, and in some specific fields due to the ongoing govt works, there is hardly some space left to be obtained.
“In such cases, the Samruddhi Mahamarg has all the features needed to run the HSR by it. If that was done, the land acquisition cost could be slashed down drastically, but that is just a possibility,” the officer replied.
The officer also hinted that at places where there is a little scope for getting the land alignment can be in proximity of the Samruddhi Expressway, whose median is 15 m wide sufficient for the train to run through. At other times the alignment can take its course.
