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Beware while driving through metro pillars in Kochi

16/08/2018

Kochi: The driver of auto rickshaw driving past a metro pillar in Kochi was saved by a whisker. Concrete from metro pillar fell from the expansion joint from one of Kochi Metro’s pillars erected near Lisie station on Wednesday.

The incident took place around 3.45 in the afternoon. Unexpectedly, concrete pieces from the metro pillar fell down towards a running auto. This sparked a fracas among commuters travelling on that road. When the incident was reported to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL), the authorities sprung into action.

KMRL has not asked Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to prepare a report on the incident. The work on this Kochi metro was taken up by them.

KMRL spokesperson shares that thermocol (polystyrene) is used to fill the expansion joint. They want to know why concrete was used instead of thermocol.

The Kochi metro officials are concerned as such incidents might pose a threat to pedestrians and motorists travelling on the road. It will raise safety issues for those commuting on metro corridor stretch.

DMRC spokesperson on the other hand clarified that the metro pillars and structures near the station are safe. They state that it is the contractor who used concrete instead of thermocol to fill the joint.

DMRC also said that they will look into the issue and then comment on it. They will find out if heavy rains caused the incident.

The Delhi metro officials have also assured that ongoing work has not been affected owing to rains. The workers are working on site and cannot afford to miss meeting the schedule. This is due to the fact that the project is running behind the set deadline.

DMRC wants to wrap up work for construction of cantilever bridge by next month. In case of heavy rains they will have to stop work and this will stall the progress. Work will have to be stopped till rains subside.

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Was Pune Metro consultancy contract given without competitive bidding?

Darshana Shukla

16/08/2018

Pune: There is negative buzz around Pune Metro consultancy contract. It is alleged that the contract was given without tendering. The work has been given to a consortium of four companies, led by France-based infrastructure consulting firm Systra.

Systra won the contract for General Consultant (GC) for Phase-1 of the Pune Metro Rail Project. As per popular business news portal, Business Line, the contract was awarded without the competitive bidding process.

The Pune Metro Phase-1 project estimated at ₹11,420-crore. Work for the project is taken up by Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation (Maha Metro) – a joint venture company between the Government of India and the Government of Maharashtra.

Maha Metro in 2016 had reinstated Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation (NMRCL) to manage all metro projects in the State.

Sources from the industry shedding light on the issue shared that in June 2016, the syndicate of Systra, US-based AECOM, Egis Rail (a part of France-headquartered Egis Group), and state-owned RITES was given the ₹221-crore GC contract for Nagpur Metro’s first phase project. Interestingly the same association was given a contract for providing Interim Consultancy for the Pune project in 2017.

In fact even in 2018, the same consortium won Pune metro worth about ₹300 crore GC contract. This event has irked many other contenders who allege that formal tendering procedures were not initiated.

Last year in an interview with a Magazine, Brijesh Dixit, Managing Director, Maha Metro, said that a lot of work for bidding process was done for Nagpur Metro before Systra-led consortium) came on-board. In case of bidding process, 40 per cent was done by them and the rest was carried out by them.

Dixit also added that in the case of Pune Metro, they will put them on board right in the commencement so that the procedure is even quicker than it was in Nagpur. To begin with, for the first year, they will have the same consortium at work in Pune as well.

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Chennai Metro to run on 80% green power, tender invited

Darshana Shukla

16/08/2018

Chennai: The Chennai Metro Rail is moving in the direction of sustainability. The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) plan use green power to fuel 80 per cent of metro operations. The tender for the same have been invited and the metro body aims to procure renewable energy source to power metro operations.

CMRL is scouting for a consultant who can help them in sourcing both wind and solar power. A tender for the same has been invited to look for a consultant to assist them. The metro officials are putting efforts to run environment friendly mass transit system.

An official from CMRL informs that they will be buying wind and solar power from open market. Tender for the same have been invited. The metro body is looking for a consultant who can help in determining the source, cost and capacity of power to be purchased. In about two months all the aspects relating to operating on green power is likely to be finalised.

CMRL is exploring buying power from open market in order to reduce half the operational cost. An official said that currently they pay around Rs 8 per unit to Tangedco. They will now look for a source with tariff charges of Rs 3.50. The cost will only be determined once they finalise the consultant for power procurement.

The renewable power will be employed to drive the traction system required to run the trains. It will also be used to both underground and elevated metro stations.

CMRL additionally has also put in 6MW capacity solar panels in elevated stations. At its maintenance depot in Koyambedu it has installed 1mw capacity photovoltaic panels. With this initiative, the metro body is eyeing to save Rs 1.12 crore every year.

Power facts

An elevated metro station requires 1,900 units on average every day. This is need to escalators and lighting
An underground station consumes 3,500 units as it needs to run its air-conditioning and ventilation. This along with other functions like lighting and running escalators

Do you know metro rail generates its own power by traction system?

The regenerative braking system helps save about 30 per cent energy installed in metro train. When an operator applies brakes, three-phase traction motors installed in the trains double as generators to produce electricity. This then goes into the overhead electricity lines.

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Hyederabad Metro | Ameerpet-L.B Nagar corridor -I to open for public by September

Priyanka Sahu

16/08/2018

Hyderabad: On Wednesday, 15 August Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (HMRL) Managing Director NVS Reddy said that the much awaited stretch between Ameerpet – L.B Nagar corridor-I is on the verge of completion and will likely to open by September for public.

After hosting the flag on 72^nd Independence Day celebration at Metro Rail Bhawan Mr. Reddy said that the two stretches of Miyapur- Ameerpet (13 Km,corridor-I) and Ameerpet-Nagole (17 k, corridor III) are doing very well with an average daily ridership of more than 80,000 which is increasing day to day.

Mr. Reddy further added that an application to the commissioner of Metro Railway Safety (CMRS) has already been submitted CMRS inspection is expected to be completed by the end of this month after getting a nod of safety assessment report of the communication Based Train (CBTC) system from M/S Halcrow (UK), who are the Independent Safety Assessor (ISA) for the signaling System of Hyderabad Metro Rail Project.

This route will facilitate large number of commuters. Dilshuknagar and Ameepet is hub for number of coaching center. After opening of this corridor people residing in a area will get benefits. Meanwhile Mr. also urged the engineer to show the heritage aspect of the city in the urban rejuvenation works of this stretch, especially between Assembly and MGBS network which was being developed by HMRL as a “ heritage precinct.”

Earlier Municipal administration and urban development (MA&UD) minister KT Rama Rao said that trial runs and necessary safety tests are already in progress, with the certificate from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety approving commercial operations also expected by the end of July.

On 21 June, 2018 KTR Rao had a, trial run of the train from Ameerpet Metro Station to LB Nagar Metro station along with Transport Minister P Mahender Reddy, Mayor Bonthu Rammohan, Metro Rail Chief NVS Reddy and others. Finally they reach to the conclusion, that metro rail cost is not that high as was concluded from section of people.

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Kochi Metro | Metro services gets close due to heavy rain flood

Priyanka Sahu

16/08/2018

Kochi: Today South Railway and Kochi Metro are suspended its operations due to heavy rain flood. Heavy causing the public transport system to collapse in several parts of Central Kerala. Due to continuous rains, the water level has increased in the Periyar River and all the gates of major dams, including Mullaperiyar, Cherutoni, Idukki reservoirs and Idamalar, have been opened. Due to this, the lives of people living in low-lying areas have been majorly affected.

Water level increased to Bridge no 176

The flood situation has affected the transport system in Kochi city. A spokesman of the South Railway said in a statement in the morning that, “On the down line area between Angamaly and Aluva, the service has been stopped on this bridge due to increasing water level at bridge no 176.”

Kochi Metro train operation suspended

Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) closed its operation this morning after being submerged in the water of its yard in Mattam near Aluva. KMRL said in a statement: “The Kochi Metro train service has been discontinued due to the increased water level in the Mastam Yard area.” The spokesperson said that once the water level is low and the system is in good condition, the operation will be started.

#Kerala: Visuals of waterlogging in parts of Kochi; Metro train services suspended as water level rises in Muttom Metro yard area pic.twitter.com/kVRYJLtqIZ
— ANI (@ANI) August 16, 2018

The gates of the dam were opened in Periyar River:

The Officials said bus services in Kochi have also been affected due to the dropping of the National Highway connecting the city with the Kamsari area. Due to the frequent rain and the gate of the dam in Periyar River is opened, which causes heavy water floated in the Kochi International Airport area, all types of air services were will be closed by Saturday.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh today spoke to the Chief Minister of Kerala information about flood situation in the state. The Home Minister spoke twice to the Chief Minister in a day. During this, he assured all kind of help from the Center for the rescue, relief and rehabilitation work in the southern state.

Center has given 100 crore for rupees for relief work:

An official of the Home Ministry told that Vijayan has informed, Mr. Singh about the steps taken by the state government and central agencies. During the state visit on Sunday, the Home Minister had announced an immediate relief of Rs 100 crore to the Kerala government.

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Lucknow Metro | LMRC gift tricolor flag/batch to commuters on I-day

Priyanka Sahu

14/08/2018

Lucknow metro phase 2 — Lucknow Metro Train

Lucknow: The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) shall be celebrating 15^th August, 2018 with Metro commuters by gifting them small tricolor flag/batch and toffee at all the eight operational Metro stations between Transport Nagar and Charbagh. An exhibition of India’s freedom struggle from 1857 to 1947 shall also be displayed at the Charbagh Metro station to pay a tribute to the immortal martyrs and their sacrifice for gaining independence of this Country from the clutches of the British rule.

IMG 20180814 WA0021 — LMRC will gift flag batch to commuters on I-day.

All Metro passengers will be gifted with a small tricolor flag/batch and a toffee to celebrate the happiness on the 72^nd Independence Day of the Country. The LMRC officials will distribute these ‘token of love’ to the passengers at all the eight operational Metro stations between 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

In addition to this, Lucknow Metro will also display an exhibition titled “Zara Yaad Karo Kurbaani” which will depict the freedom struggle of the Country on five different panels at the concourse level of the Charbagh Metro station. These panels will display India’s first freedom struggle or the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857, the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920, the Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930, the Quit India Movement of 1942 and India’s Independence on 15^th August, 1947.

It is a small effort from Lucknow Metro to highlight the important happenings of India’s freedom struggle that led to achieve independence after a great difficulty and hardships endured by our freedom fighters. We have achieved independence because of their constant struggle and their contribution must be remembered to highlight these facts to the younger generation of the Country. Lucknow Metro is proud of all the freedom fighters and it salutes them all on this 72^nd Independence Day.

This initiative will spread patriotism among all the commuters of Lucknow Metro. Our youngster who are so busy in their hectic life will understand patriotic value for our Country.
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BMRCL to give ORR metro contracts only after studying bid capacity

Darshana Shukla

14/08/2018

Bengaluru: Contracts for laying down the 18-km Metro line on the outer ring road (ORR) to be given after assessing financial capacity. The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation (BMRCL) has stated that contracts to be given to the lowest bidder based on financial competence.

This come after several media reports hinting that the contracts are split but work going to same bidder. There were question raised in terms of transparency in allocating contracts based on bidding value. It was earlier reported that the ORR work is split into three packages to speed up work.

Though financial bids for the project are yet to be opened by BMRCL, but several sources hinted that one company has quoted lowest bid in all the three packages. This raised doubts and questioned the mode of operation of BMRCL for ORR Metro work.

Managing director of BMRCL, Ajay Seth clarified that all the three packages have a number of technical capacity criterion that includes “bid capacity” and “liquidity”.

Seth while speaking to Economic Times said, “The financial bids of participating companies having adequate bid capacity and liquidity and meeting other technical criteria only are opened.”

Once the contract is given for first package, the bid capacity as well as liquidity for rest of two tenders will be evaluated. Seth said that due diligence will be followed while awarding the contract. He also added that one company getting due advantage is overstated.

As per records there were six firms who participated in the bidding process. These included Nagarjuna Construction Company, Sadbhav Engineering, IL&FS Engineering and Construction Company, Simplex Infrastructure, Simplex Infrastructure and ITD Cementa-tion India.

In technical rounds Sadbhav was disqualified with the remaining five companies now in race. It was IL&FS who ended up winning the bid with lowest quote. This was for the construction of 7-km elevated Metro line between Central Silk Board and Bellandur, comprising of four Metro stations Sources reveal that BMRCL is not issued letter of agreement (LoA)

By end of this month, financial bids of two other packages are likely to be opened.

BMRCL is already working with three companies who participated in the bidding. These are Simplex, IL&FS, ITD and NCC. These companies are part of project execution for one of the Metro project of 72-km Phase II network.

As per information ITD Cementation India has bagged four contracts, from BMRCL while Simplex has got two projects. NCC and IL& have got one each.

It is learnt that transport utility is not pleased with the performance of NCC and IL&FS who are the first ones to get contracts from Namma Metro. As per the agreements, both the companies were believed to conclude work on the Mysuru road (3.95-km) and Kanakapura road (6.52-km) by March 2018. The civil work, nonetheless, is likely to go on till mid-2019.

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Delhi Metro | Special Metro train to spread patriotism on the occasion of I-day

Priyanka Sahu

14/08/2018

New Delhi: On the occasion of Independence day Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will decorate metro train running from Samaypur Badli and HUDA City Centre (Yellow Line) for the next two months spreading the message of patriotism. The train has been wrapped with pictures of freedom fighters and other national icons who has played a significant role in India’s Freedom Struggle.

The official said that the six-coach special trains fully wrapped with photographs of our freedom fighters, martyrs and soldiers such as Mahatma Gandhi, Shaheed Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Dr BR Ambedkar, great Indian personalities such as Lata Mangeshkar, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan, cricket hero Kapil Dev, among others will run on the Samaypur Badli-HUDA City Centre (Yellow Line) for the next two months.

On Independence day Metro train services will run as usual across the entire Metro network. Whereas the entry and exit at four stations of line-6 (Kashmere Gate to Escorts Mujesar), Lal Quila, Jama Masjid, Delhi Gate and ITO will be permitted from select way of entry and exit gates during the ceremony time. And other gates will be remaining closed at these stations owing to security considerations.

On the Independence Day for the convenience of people, additional ticket counters will be opened at the Lal Quila and Jama Masjid Metro. Additional staff will be arranged for handling the crowd before and after the ceremony.

On Monday our Union Minister of State for External Affairs, General (Retd) VK Singh paid a tribute to freedom fighters and martyrs of the nation by writing a special message on the train.

At Lok Kalyan Marg Metro station he wrote Happy Independence Day in Hindi and greeted people on the occasion of Independence Day.

The official also said that the Metro train is carrying a lot of inspiring messages to spread the idea of nationalism and unity among metro commuters.

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Centre Govt. says longest Metro Rail network under construction

Priyanka Sahu

14/08/2018

Mumbai Metro with four coaches — Mumbai Metro Update: Rahee Emerges as the Lowest Bidder for Track Work on 11.38 Km-long Line 9 (Representational image)

New Delhi: Recently data released by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs shows that state has 233-km of Metro railway network under construction. This also includes under construction work of Metro corridors being built in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur. This data state that at presently nine state are running Metro project but none of them have such longest corridor.

Total Metro corridors is of 233-km out of which Mumbai alone has around 163-km. Some Mumbai Metro corridors are also under construction in the city which are Colaba-Seepz Metro-3 underground corridor, Dahisar-DN Nagar-Mandale Metro-2 corridor, Wadala-Thane-Kasarvadavli Metro-4 corridor and Dahisar East-Andheri East Metro-7 corridor. This is first longest Metro rail network under construction anywhere in the city, Kolkata that has around 108-km of Metro network under construction, ranks second overall.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) who is executing several Metro projects in the city said that though the data shared is India specific but Mumbai and Maharashtra are places where all the private companies have their eyes considering they have longest and highest number of Metro corridors under construction which definitely gets a lot of business and job opportunity including skilled and unskilled labor.

The MMRDA also said that there is easily around 20,000 people must have got job opportunity due to so many Metro corridors being under construction. This will be followed by job opportunities that will also come during the operations stage of these under construction Metro corridors.

If we talk about Metro network extension Maharashtra individual occupies 31-km of Metro network which is under construction at Pune and around 38-km metro being under construction in Nagpur

Till the end of this year in Mumbai will have close to 200-km of Metro when once under construction metro corridor between Lokhandwala-Vikhroli will complete.

The Karnataka metro meanwhile is third highest for under construction Metro network that has around 72-km-long Metro network under construction, Delhi having 52-km of Metro network under construction along with it Uttar Pradesh that has around 44-km-long of Metro network under construction.

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Centre asks Delhi govt to avail loan for Rapid Rail: Puri

Darshana Shukla

14/08/2018

New Delhi: Union Housing & Urban affairs minister Hardeep Singh Puri communicates to Delhi government that it cannot bear Delhi’s share for rapid rail project. The propose project is between Sarai Kale Khan and Meerut. This comes after chief minister Arvind Kejriwal requesting center to fund the project.

Puri has instead written to Kejriwal with a suggestion that Delhi government can get loan for the raid rail.

As per close sources, Puri has made it clear that there is a template for all mass transit projects. The template clearly states the shares of equity that the Centre and state have put to. The urban minister asserted that they will not change the said arrangement.

Previously, Puri had communicated to Delhi government that his ministry can help them avail loan at economical rate of interest. As per current data, Delhi government requires to pitch in Rs 1,138 crore as equity for the Rs 31,902 crore project.

Urban affairs secretary Durga Shankar Mishra during the interaction with press at tree plantation drive at New Moti Baug said, “There are alternative channels for availing loans at cheaper rate from the NCR Planning Board.”

Kejriwal has sent a written communication to Puri stating that his government had given in-principle approval for the project. Kejriwal shared that his government could not pay its share due owing to inadequate finance.

The funding blueprint of the entire mass rapid transit projects put into operation is through special purpose vehicle (SPV). Here the arrangement has been 30% equity and the rest 70% as loan. Mutually Centre and state governments bear equivalent share in the equity.

The Delhi government will have to look for loan facility to kick-start the project. Now with the center declining financial assistance due to set template for rapid rail project, the state government will have explore alternative funding option. They will have to pay heed to the suggestion of Durga Shankar Mishra to secure loan for the rapid rail.

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