Home Blog Page 632

A temporary nod from the fire department for two East-West Kolkata Metro stations

Kanika Verma
-
0
A temporary nod from the fire department for two East-West Kolkata Metro stations

KOLKATA (Metro Rail News): The state fire services department has cleared the pending fire licenses for the two East-West Metro stations, Bengal Chemical and Salt Lake Stadium. This ends the two-month-long impasse that had threatened to cut short East-West Metro’s already truncated 5km Salt Lake run to 3.5km. The fire safety nods issued on Saturday, however, are temporary and valid only for a year

Last Tuesday, Kolkata’s line 2 underwent inspection by the commissioner of railway safety (CRS) amid uncertainty over the fire licenses. The CRS, under the aviation ministry, gives the final nod to any new Metro line across India.
buy avanafil online https://pavg.net/wp-content/themes/twentytwentyone/inc/en/avanafil.html no prescription
Fire and emergency services minister Sujit Bose had in a meeting on July 6 agreed to issue temporary no-objection certificates (NOCs).

The conditional NOCs require Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), the implementing agency of the 16km East-West Metro corridor that will eventually connect Howrah with Salt Lake’s Sector V, to build the third exits at the two Metro stations within a year and relocate slum dwellers encroaching the spot where the exits would come up.

Despite the minister’s assurance, at another meeting held last Monday, the fire officials pleaded helplessness before KMRC, which needed the NOCs before the CRS inspection the next day.

During the inspection last Tuesday, the CRS representatives made it clear to KMRC that without fire safety clearances, the last two stations would be out of bounds for the public.

In that case, the East-West Metro run would have been cut short to 3.5km till City Centre station. Bengal Chemical and Salt Lake Stadium are the fifth and sixth stations after City Centre. Shailesh Kumar Pathak, chief commissioner of railway safety (CCRS), who had led the team, is believed to have demanded an explanation as to why the CRS inspection was sought when two of the four stations lacked fire safety nods.

A battle of nerves ensued. Eventually, the fire department asked KMRC to submit a written undertaking promising to build the exits and rehabilitating encroachers. The conditional NOCs were issued on Saturday. KMRC has sent it to CRS. “We expect CRS to point out issues that must be ironed out before final nod,” an official said.

Bullet trains to be customized for India’s heat, dust

Kanika Verma
-
0
Bullet trains to be customized for India’s heat, dust

India is working with Japan to make key technical changes in the bullet trains that are expected to run between Mumbai and Ahmedabad from 2023 so that they can handle extreme heat and high levels of pollution, according to officials familiar with the matter.

The National High-Speed Rail Corporation (NHSRCL), which is executing the project linking the capitals of Maharashtra and Gujarat, believes the trains will have to be customized for Indian conditions so that they don’t break down due to heat and dust.

“The trains that run in Japan are built to handle the outside temperature of up to 35 degrees Celsius. But here in India, and especially the section it will run in Maharashtra, the outside temperature can cross even 50 degrees. So, we will need some modifications for that,” Achal Khare, managing director of NHSRCL.

Special provisions are also being made to combat dust.

“Keeping in view the environmental conditions in India, the air conditioners, blowers, and other important equipment fitted in the high-speed trains will have dust filters. These filters will be like a fine mesh as commonly used in air-conditioning units. The dust filters installed will work as a barrier and stop the dust entering inside the trains; this will be helpful in maintaining ambient air quality inside the trains. They will also safeguard the equipment from harmful dust mites and other pollutants,” said Sushma Gaur, spokesperson for NHSRCL.

India’s first bullet train, known as the Shinkansen in Japan, will mark the country’s shift to an era of high-speed trains capable of hitting speeds of up to 350km per hour. The air conditioning system in the bullet train is inside the body of the coaches, and not on the top like in the Metro system; it is therefore not exposed to the outside atmosphere.

According to Khare, the trains will have pressurized cabins similar to aircraft.

“To start with, we will have 24 train sets, of which 18 will come from Japan while six will be manufactured here. But when we say it will be manufactured in India, it means not 100% as critical parts will still come from Japan,” Khare said.

Another change that the corporation is making to the current design of the bullet train is providing extra luggage space for passengers. Every coach will have overhead space for hand baggage. In the last coach, some seats are likely to be removed to make space for the extra check-in luggage, for which passengers may have to pay extra the first for a train in India. “It is important to modify the train as per Indian condition since climate plays an important role. More issues may surface once the train will start running,” said Shri Prakash, a former member of the Railway Board.

The Narendra Modi government has set an ambitious deadline of completing the project by August 15, 2022, when India marks 75 years of Independence. NHSRCL expects to open one portion of the network by then and complete the entire Mumbai-Ahmedabad stretch by December 2023.

Of the 508.17km corridor, 155.76km will be in Maharashtra, 348.04 km in Gujarat and 4.3km in Dadra and Nagar Haveli. Only about 35 % of the land required for the project has been acquired so far.

The foundation stone for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project was laid by Prime Minister Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe in 2017.

RRTS terminal as a transport hub

Kanika Verma
-
0
RRTS terminal as a transport hub

NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): When the mega terminal catering to three Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridors comes up at Sarai Kale Khan in a few years, it will not be a standalone facility but a station that will be a part of an integrated transport hub.

National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), which is executing the RRTS project, has engaged a design consultant to prepare an integrated plan for the entire Sarai Kale Khan transport hub.

The RRTS terminal will be quite close to the existing Inter-State Bus Terminal, Delhi Metro’s Hazrat Nizamuddin station and the Hazrat Nizamuddin railway station. During the construction of the terminal, the transport body will also undertake the renovation of Sarai Kale Khan ISBT.

An NCRTC official said that the revamp will include creating a scientific bus flow inside the ISBT, creation of pedestrian plazas, landscaping, etc. “Passenger movement between the two facilities will be completely seamless by implementing the traffic flow plan,” he said. “The consultant has begun the design work”. “Once the integrated plan is ready, we will discuss it with all the stakeholders before its implementation,” the official added.

The RRTS terminal has been a bone of contention as the Delhi government had last year objected to the construction of an elevated structure, which, it had said, will obstruct the proposed renovation of the Sarai Kale Khan ISBT.

The government, however, gave in-principle approval for the terminal after NCRTC agreed to prepare the revamp plan and also carry out the renovation along with the construction of the RRTS terminal.

The Sarai Kale Khan RRTS station will be spread over an area that is 50 meters wide and 300 meters long. The station is proposed to be spacious taking into account that three RRTS corridors are going to converge here. All the three corridors begin from Sarai Kale Khan and connect Delhi to Ghaziabad-Meerut, Sonipat-Panipat, and Gurgaon-Rewari-Alwar. “A total of six tracks will converge at Sarai Kale Khan,” the official said.
buy kamagra gold online https://pridedentaloffice.com/wp-content/themes/twentytwentyone/inc/en/kamagra-gold.html no prescription

IRCTC Readies Fare Strategy For First Train Route Under Railways ‘Privatisation’ Plan

Kanika Verma
-
1
IRCTC Readies Fare Strategy For First Train Route Under Railways ‘Privatisation’ Plan

NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): The New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express, India’s first attempt at ‘privatizing’ its railway routes, will not have a fixed fare but instead offer dynamic pricing that competes with air travel.

Earlier this month, it was reported that the government would hand over custody of the train to Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), a railways public sector unit PSU, as part of its attempt to encourage privatization in the national transporter.

According to sources, IRCTC will pay nearly Rs 13 lakh per day in haulage and lease charges and is expected to generate about Rs 16 lakh to 17 lakh per day in revenue.

The handing over of the Lucknow-Tejas’s operations is part of the Narendra Modi government’s 100-day action plan. Its success, government sources say, is crucial as it would pave the way for handing over about 100 more trains to private players for which a policy is currently being formulated.

The broader proposal for the privatization of the Indian Railways has sparked protests across the country by worker unions.

While giving IRCTC custody of the train can’t strictly be called privatization, the idea is to hand over two routes as a pilot project whereby on-board services would be outsourced to private players through an open bidding process.

The larger proposed policy would allow private players to control over 25 routes, including metros and regional hubs.

Sources say that the policy currently in the making envisages private players to bring in their own rakes or acquire trains on a long lease from the Railways to run across the country. Currently, the Railways has 2,800 rakes, of which a minimum of 5% is being considered to be offered on lease to private players.

However, the core function of train running such as drivers, guards, tracks, signaling, train charting, and safety will remain with the national transporter. On the other hand, ticket pricing, catering, onboard housekeeping, linens, ticket checking, and amenities will be the responsibility of the private operator.

While the New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express will be IRCTC’s first route, another one will be shortly allotted. The railway PSU is also in negotiation with Uttar Pradesh government over showcasing its welfare programs and the state’s tourist spots as advertisements.

The 13-coach Tejas Express for Lucknow will have an assured path to reach destinations on time, with just one stop at Kanpur.

Sources say that there will also be a provision for offering a free meal to passengers in case the train is delayed by more than 30 minutes.

The train, which has about 1,000 seats currently, will also add another 500 gradually with the addition of five more coaches.

Besides quality catering, the train will offer door-to-door service, specially designed board room cabin for the meeting, birthday or marriage anniversary parties and shopping trolleys for buying goods like chocolates and perfume among many other services as a package to attract clients.

“We will try to cater to passengers whatever is legally allowed on board,” a source involved in finalizing the details told The Wire.

If a passenger wants to be picked up from his residence and also dropped at his destination, he would have to pay for all additional services. The train will also have welcome service as all passengers would be received and ushered into their respective seats. There will also be private ticket-checking staff.

Currently, more than 50 trains – including a Shatabdi service – and about 30 flights are operational between New Delhi and Lucknow. The two cities are also connected by a well-built highway that facilitates road connectivity.

Though the Tejas Express ticket will be less than equivalent airfare, it will be difficult for IRCTC to depend on just fare collection. That is why we are exploring various ways to attract passengers, sources said and added if everything goes as per the plan then it could achieve break-even in three years.

The Tejas Express will have modern facilities such as aircraft-like personalized LCD entertainment-cum-information screens, onboard Wi-Fi facility, comfortable seats, mobile charging points, personalized reading lights, modular bio-toilets, and sensor tap fittings among others.

The train will take approximately six-and-a-half hours to cover the distance between Delhi and Lucknow and it will run on all days of the week except Thursday and Sunday.

The Lucknow-New Delhi Tejas Express will leave the Lucknow junction at 6.50 am to reach New Delhi at 1.35 pm. The New Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express will leave from New Delhi station at 3.35 pm to arrive in Lucknow at 10.05 pm.

India’s First Bullet Train Project To Be Completed By 2023

Kanika Verma
-
0
India’s First Bullet Train Project To Be Completed By 2023

MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): The Mumbai-Ahmedabad High-Speed Rail (MAHSR), popularly known as the country’s first Bullet Train Project, has been sanctioned with a target to be completed by 2023, said the railway minister Piyush Goyal on Friday.

 In a written reply to Dr. Vikas Mahatme in the Rajya Sabha, the Railway Minister Piyush Goyal informed that the MAHSR project of 508-kilometer length has been sanctioned by the Government.

“This project is being executed by a special purpose vehicle namely National High-Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), with the financial and technical assistance from the Government of Japan.

The total estimated cost of the project is Rs 1,08,000 crore,” he said. He also mentioned in its statement that the total expenditure of Rs 3,226.8 crore has been incurred on the project up to June 2019.

 In response to the question of when the Government plans to expand the bullet train network all over the country, Goyal said: “Bullet Train or High-Speed Rail Projects are highly capital and technology-intensive, and therefore, their proposals for other sections are subject to technical feasibility, financial and economic viability and availability of funding”.

Arbitrator for Monorail dispute over cost, delays

Kanika Verma
-
2
Arbitrator for Monorail dispute over cost, delays

MUMBAI (Metro Rail News): The Bombay High Court on Friday ordered the appointment of an arbitrator to decide upon on the dispute between Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) and the consortium comprising L&T and Scomi Engineering over the issue of cost escalation of the 20-km Monorail project between Chembur and Jacob Circle or Sat Rasta.

Since the project’s inception in 2007, its cost has gone up from the original estimate of around Rs 1,800 crore to Rs 3,000 crore. The L&T-Scomi are demanding an additional compensation of Rs 1,707 crore for cost overruns arising out of delays related to the right of way, environmental and other permissions, and rehabilitation of project affected persons (PAPs). However, MMRDA has been rejecting the claim, citing the inability of the contractor to complete the project on time despite repeated extensions.

The Bombay High Court Justice GS Kulkarni accepted L&T-Scomi’s application for appointment of the arbitrator and rejected MMRDA’s contention that L&T Scomi has not followed the proper process while demanding an appointment of the arbitrator.

The retired chief justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court, S J Vazifdar, will be the arbitrator from L&T-Scomi side, former Bombay High Court Justice VC Daga will be arbitrator from MMRDA and the HC will appoint the presiding arbitrator in due course.

The Monorail project has faced issues of cost overruns and delays since inception. It was awarded in 2007 and was to be started by 2010. In February 2014, a truncated 8.8-km service between Chembur and Wadala route was started. However, service on this stretch was also marred by constant breakdowns.

After a fire gutted an empty coach of monorail one morning in November 2017, the service was closed for around nine months. Earlier, at least five incidences were reported where services were disrupted for a period of one day to a week.

The second phase of the project was to start in 2017 but even after seven extensions, L&T-Scomi were not able to commission the entire line. In December 2018, MMRDA scrapped the contract with L&TScomi and took over the operations. The entire stretch between Chembur and Jacob Circle was finally thrown open to the public in March this year.

Bengaluru suburban rail to be linked with Metro

Kanika Verma
-
0
Bengaluru suburban rail to be linked with Metro

BANGALORE (Metro Rail News): The proposed suburban rail project for Bengaluru, currently at the design stage, is likely to be integrated with at least 10 Metro stations. In the revised detailed project report (DPR), the length and number of suburban stations have been reduced to avoid overlap of the two rapid transit systems.

The yet-to-be-approved DPR, prepared by the state-owned consultancy firm RITES, proposes 57 suburban railway stations covering a distance of 148 km. Besides dropping at least 24 stations from the original report, the revised DPR has also cut down the number of elevated stations from 31 to 22. “The DPR requires approval from the state and the Railway Board.

It will also be submitted to the NITI Aayog. The proposal will then go before the Cabinet for funding,” said Amit Garg, who is heading the special purpose vehicle B-RIDE that will execute the suburban rail project for Bengaluru. While the process of approvals does not follow specific timelines as much depends on political support and administrative clearances, the DPR has set a six-year period for the construction of the project. Land acquisition alone is likely to take about two years. “Operations may not start anytime before 2026,” a senior Railways official said.

Existing and proposed Metro stations at Majestic, Yeshwanthpur, Kengeri, Cantonment, Whitefield, KR Puram, Baiyappanahalli, Jnanabharathi, and Nayandahalli may be integrated with suburban rail stations.

Acquiring land is likely to be a major constraint. The project requires about 100 acres for the construction of additional tracks. “There are a number of private buildings at the edge of the railway boundary on Kengeri — KSR Bengaluru City, also on certain parts between KSR Bengaluru CityCantonment corridor. At some of the places, temples are constructed either within the railway boundary or adjacent to railway boundaries on Kengeri-KSR Bengaluru City section and HebbalBanaswadi section corridors,” the DPR states.

India’s first underwater metro tunnel to have Europe-style tunnel under Hooghly river

Kanika Verma
-
0
India’s first underwater metro tunnel to have Europe-style tunnel under Hooghly river

KOLKATA (Metro Rail News): India’s first underwater metro rail tunnel by 2021! Kolkata Metro, which is also the country’s first metro rail network, will proudly have a European-style underwater tunnel as part of its East-West Metro project. The project is being overseen by Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd a government of India entity. Once the project is completed, two iconic Indian Railways stations – Howrah Junction railway station (HWH) and Sealdah railway station (SDAH) – will be connected through the Kolkata Metro network.

Kolkata Metro East-West line, underwater tunnel facts:-

1. Kolkata East-West Metro line is 16.6-km long. The project will be completed by 2021. A senior Railway official told PTI it would ferry 10 lakh (1 million) passengers per day by 2035.

2. The prime attraction of the Kolkata East-West Metro line is the underwater tunnel that will go beneath the Hooghly river, a distributary of the Ganga river. The twin tunnel will be 520 meters long. One tunnel would be East-bound and the other would be West-bound. The twin tunnels are being built 30 meters below the riverbed.

3. The Kolkata Metro East-West line will connect Howrah metro station and Mahakaran (iconic Writers’ Building) metro stations. Commuters traveling between these two stations will spend around one minute under the river. The metro train will run at a speed of 80 km per hour.

4. Out of the total 16.6 km long Kolkata Metro East-west corridor, 5.
buy singulair online https://calibudsman.com/wp-content/themes/twentytwentytwo/inc/patterns/en/singulair.html no prescription
8 km section will be elevated and 10.8 km will be part of the underground corridor.

5. Kolkata Metro East-west corridor stations: The elevated stations of Kolkata Metro East-west corridor are Sector-V station, Karunamoyee station, Central Park station, City center station, Bengal Chemical station, Saltlake stadium station.

The underground stations of Kolkata Metro East-west corridor are Phoolbagan station, Sealdah station, Esplanade, Mahakaran station, Howrah station, Howrah Maidan.

6. Kolkata Metro East-west corridor project will cut down travel cost, time of passengers traveling across most populous areas of Kolkata, according to Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.

7. The underwater tunnel of Kolkata Metro will provide a unique traveling experience for commuters. It will be like traveling more than a 10 storied building below the water surface for almost half-kilometer across the Hooghly. According to Kolkata Metro officials, the tunnel is a “marvel of modern technology” – a “resounding first in India” as well as a “rare venture worldwide”.

8. The underwater line tunnel beneath the Hooghly river is a state-of-the-art metro line. The Eurostar, that connects the famous Paris-London undersea tunnel, offers an apt analogy for the level of technology harnessed by KMRCL.

9. The Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. adopted a cutting-edge latest boring process which causes no traffic snarls. The authority has procured “Earth Pressure Balance” Tunnel Boring Machines which ensures “life goes on as usual on the surface”.

Hyderabad to soon get mobile app-based parking facility at 24 metro rail stations

Kanika Verma
-
0
Hyderabad to soon get mobile app-based parking facility at 24 metro rail stations

HYDERABAD (Metro Rail News): Hyderabad is set to add another jewel to its crown as metro commuters in the city will soon be able to book parking spots with a mobile app. The new project will let commuters book parking spots using the cloud-based parking management system, and it integrates features like digital payments via a mobile app for parking. Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) launched ‘Park Hyderabad’ project, which is a paid parking facility with digital systems and mobile app at 24 Metro Rail stations across the city.

Under the new project, Hyderabad commuters can park at metro stations using digitization of parking ticketing and other operations on the ground level. It’s worth mentioning that the technology for digital parking is powered by the smart parking platform of Get My Parking, an IoT (Internet of Things‎) startup. 

For Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd (HMRL) commuters, there will be a free mobile app available on Android and iOS where they can search, and book parking space at select metro stations. 

The best part about the mobile app will be that it will also provide additional information about parking lots like timings, tariff, rules, and reallocation photos.

The company will also make sure that all the transactional operations done by parking attendants will be digitally assisted using handheld based parking management system by Get My Parking, which will decrease foul play.

The announcement stated this initiative will empower citizens and parking attendants with new-age digital parking tools and contribute to the smart city ecosystem of Hyderabad. So that soon enough parking won’t be a hassle for HMRL metro commuters.

Talking about the Get My Parking parking startup, it was founded in 2015 to digitize the parking industry. According to the company data, the team at Get My Parking has digitized over 800 parking locations, which cumulatively process about 2 million parking transactions every month. 

Adding the statement “An example of ‘Make in India’ success, Get My Parking has expanded globally with digital parking projects across 17 countries, including most of Europe. The learnings of working on diverse geographies and requirements have made their core parking platform robust and agile. That indirectly adds value to their new projects like the one of Hyderabad metro parking.

Talking about the project, Rasik Pansare, co-founder of Get My Parking, said, “This is an exciting opportunity for us as it is a first of its kind smart parking system for on-street parking. We are grateful to HMRL for huge encouragement to startups and ‘Digital India’ initiatives. This is an ambitious project, and our cross-domain expertise has come together in a complementary manner to deliver on the responsibility of making Hyderabad metro parking a seamless experience”.

Kolkata to get India’s first underwater Metro soon as tunnel work in final stages

Kanika Verma
-
0
Kolkata to get India’s first underwater Metro soon as tunnel work in final stages

NEW DELHI (Metro Rail News): Kolkata metro commuters will soon be able to travel through India’s first underwater metro tunnel. The work on India’s first metro rail line under the river is almost complete and the service is expected to start soon. The East-West Metro corridor will pass through under Hooghly river and it will become the first such river crossing in the country. 

It may be noted that the East-West metro corridor project of Kolkata metro was conceptualized in 1971. The sanction of the East-West corridor connecting Howrah Railway Station and Bidhannagar through an order dated in July 2008. This line will connect Howrah and Sealdah Railway Stations which are two of the busiest railway stations in the world.

Railway Minister Piyush Goyal tweeted about the development on Thursday saying, “Operating under Indian Railways, Kolkata Metro has constructed the first-ever transport tunnel in the country which will pass through underwater.” 

“This tunnel has been constructed using world’s finest technology, soon rail travel will be introduced for rail passengers on this route”, he added.

The inquiry of Railway Safety Commissioner on Salt Lake Sector-5 from the Salt Lake Stadium i.e. around 5 kilometers of this metro line was completed on Tuesday and it is expected to get approval soon. Once it is approved, services of the metro will be started for the common people on this section.

It is worth mentioning that the East-West corridor of Kolkata metro is 15 Km-long which spans from Salt Lake Stadium to Howrah. This metro line between Salt Lake Sector-5 to Salt Lake Stadium has Karunamayi, Central Park, City Center, and Bengal Chemical metro stations. Kolkata metro is spending Rs 8,572 crore on this entire project.

For the first time in India, a transport tunnel is being built inside the river. Two tunnels are being constructed on the up and down line, which is about 1.4 kilometers long. The width of the Hooghly river here is about 520 meters and this tunnel passes through the bottom of the river bottom.

As per Kolkata metro website, the tunnel will enable the metro to travel more than a 10 storied building below the water surface for almost half a kilometer across the Hooghly river.

The reinforced concrete segmental tunnel linings have a thickness of more than a quarter of a meter and are caulked with a gasket of neoprene and hydrophilic rubber to seal the tunnel from ingress of water. This marvel of modern technology is India’s first rare venture.     

This project has been in progress since2009. It is expected that this line will be fully functional in 2021. On this line, Howrah and Sealdah stations of Indian Railways will be present. Railways are expecting about 10 lakh people to use this line of Kolkata Metro by the end of 2035. 
 

1...631632633...911Page 632 of 911