Underwater Metro | Work begins on India’s 1st underwater metro tunnel in Howrah

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27/04/2017

Kolkata: Construction of the country’s first underwater metro tunnel commenced on the banks of Hooghly river in Howrah of West Bengal on Friday.

A pair of boring machines was deployed to dig the 520m tunnel with 30m running under the river bed. The work of digging the underwater tunnel is expected to be completed within two months. The commencement of work for the underwater tunnel is an important landmark in progress towards completion of the second phase of Kolkata Metro expansion called the ‘East-west metro project’ that will connect Howrah station in the west with Salt Lake Sector V in the east.

The underwater tunnel was the major roadblock in completion of the project which may significantly reduce traffic congestion on the streets of Kolkata after getting operational.
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The Howrah station witnesses major traffic of daily commuters coming from neighbouring districts to work in the different parts of the metropolis.

The second phase of metro will also connect with another major railway terminus Sealdah that brings daily passengers from North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts of the state. These districts also satiate much of the agricultural and fish appetite of the city.

The Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) and Indian Railways funded second phase of metro railway expansion project and it will cost around Rs 50 billion. The project is expected to be completed by 2018. The 14.67km long stretch will have 12 stations, 6 of which will be underground and the rest 6 elevated.

With the beginning of work of the underwater tunnel, other halted stretches and metro railway stations in the phase may also get started. Many stretches of the phase are stuck in land acquisition problems, which the authorities are attempting to solve.

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Make in India | Govt. makes mandatory to purchase 75% made in India coaches

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27/04/2017

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make-in-india-coaches — Make in India metro coaches

New Delhi: The Central Government on Sunday introduced new rules for the procurement of equipment for metro rail projects. The government stipulated that a minimum of 75% of tendered quantity of metro cars to be manufactured in India, with progressive indigenisation of content, said the Urban Development Ministry in a statement. The government said that is part of the government’s efforts for the ‘Make in India’ initiative and to boost the metro rail systems in India.

Besides metro cars, the rule also stipulates that a minimum of 25% of critical equipment and sub-systems or spares have to be manufactured in India. There will also be a standardising of technical parameters for rolling stock (metro coaches) and signaling equipment, the Ministry said.

These new rules for metro for metros have been approved by the Minister of Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu and have been circulated to all metro companies on Friday, making them effective immediately.

“These initiatives will incentivise setting up manufacturing facilities in the country by increasing the volumes of procurement of rolling stock and all kinds of equipment by removing variations in the present technical norms for rolling stock and signaling equipment. This will in turn result in reduction of cost through economies of scale,” the Ministry said.

The Ministry has stipulated the following mandatory conditions to be incorporated in Tender Documents:

1.Minimum 75% of the tendered quantity of metro cars shall be manufactured indigenously with progressive indigenisation of content, for which the contractor may either establish independent manufacturing facility in India or partner with Indian manufacturers, if the procurement is more than 100 cars.

2.To facilitate ease in maintenance through easy availability of spares beyond the warranty period, an identified list of critical equipment and sub-systems shall be included in the Tender Document for ensuring indigenous manufacturing of a minimum of 25% of such equipment, either by Original Equipment Manufacturers themselves by establishing a wholly owned subsidiary in India or through Indian manufacturers.

3. Requirement of metro cars at State level shall be clubbed to enable applicability of local procurement norms.

4.To develop in-house expertise on long term basis, metro companies with large size fleet to undertake in-house maintenance.

A total number of 1,912 metro coaches are currently operational in the country with another 1,420 under procurement. Over the next three years more than 1,600 metro cars would be required. Each metro coach is estimated to cost about Rs 10 crore.

“The Ministry has concluded the long pending standaridisation of norms for rolling stock and signaling equipment applicable to over 90% of the present imports. Further, to promote indigenous manufacturing, the Ministry has stipulated procurement of 9 types of signaling equipment from within the country. Metro companies have also been directed to develop maximum possible local competence so that knowhow and technical support is available within the country. Indian companies have to be associated with production of a wide range of signaling and train control project equipment,” it said.

Indigenization of several metro functions has also been prescribed. These relate to communication systems, managing operational disturbances, time table preparation, fault reporting, control traction power, maintenance, infrastructure supervision, rolling stock management etc.

Presently, metros are operating in 7 cities of Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Bengaluru and Chennai with a total route length of 326 kms. Metro projects with a total route length of 546 kms are under construction in 11 cities and projects with a total route length of 903 kms in 13 cities are under consideration.

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Indore & Bhopal Metro | MP govt looks for Rs 14,485 crore funding for metro project

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25/04/2017

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Tenders for metro projects — Madhya Pradesh Metro photo copyrighted MPMRCL

Bhopal: The Madhya Pradesh government is looking for avenues to raise Rs 14,485.55 crore to implement metro rail project in Indore and Bhopal.

“We have a big plan to run metros in Indore and Bhopal for which a huge amount of money is needed. We are scouting for avenues to get this money,” Urban Development and Housing Minister Maya Singh told reporters here.

“Homework to run the metros in the two cities has been completed. The moment we manage finance, the project will be kick-started,” she said.

Last December, the government approved the detailed project report (DPR) which envisages Rs 14,485.
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55 crore investment to put in place the rapid transport system in the two main cities of the state.

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Chennai Metro | CMRL to provide Platform Screen Doors in underground stations

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25/04/2017

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Chennai: The Chennai Metro Rail Limited (DMRC) decided to provide Platform Screen Doors at all its underground stations to prevent suicide attempts. Last year, a 25-year-old man attempted suicide at the Vadapalani Metro Rail Station in Chennai by jumping on to the track, a year after the service was launched.

The record is worse in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). Last year alone, 76 attempted suicide and 12 died.

In a bid to prevent such attempts, the Delhi and Chennai Metro Rail systems have decided to install platform screen doors (PSD) in underground stations.

These doors are synchronised to open along with the train doors, thereby blocking access to the track for commuters.

While in the Delhi Metro with over 150 stations PSDs are being set up only in six major stations for now, all the 19 underground stations of the Chennai Metro Rail will have this facility.

When the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) and his team inspected the stations from Thirumangalam to Nehru Park, they also checked if there was a risk of passengers getting trapped between these doors.

“We checked whether there was a risk by placing our feet between the PSD door before it closed; it instantly detected it and opened. Passengers won’t get stuck in between. Then, we asked CMRL what if the dupatta or saree of a commuter gets stuck in between, and they said the door is manually opened by the station controller.”, an official of the CMRS said,

Since there are CCTV cameras in most parts of the station and inside the trains too, the driver and station controller can see when such incidents take place.

Chennai Metro Rail have carried out several test runs in this regard to check if the PSD doors work.

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Jaipur Metro | JMRC’s efforts to lease out space for advertisements fail

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23/04/2017

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Jaipur: The efforts of Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) to earn additional revenue by leasing out space for advertisements inside and outside the Metro trains and stations have entirely failed.
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Only one company participated in the tender process. An official said that even the rate quoted by the company was very low.

The JMRC would invite tenders once again. For buying space for advertisement inside trains, two companies had participated in the tender process. Out of which, one company failed to clear the technical bid. The company which won the tender quoted 40% low rates.

Similarly, one company showed interest to use space on rent for advertisements on Metro pillars. This firm also quoted rates 50% less than expected. “Not many companies have shown interest. Moreover, the companies which came quoted less rates and it was not feasible for the JMRC. The tenders will be soon invited again,” said the official.

The JMRC and Jaipur Municipal Corporation (JMC) had earlier locked horns over the right on Metro pillars. The JMRC claimed that it would earn additional income from advertisements which could be utilised for Metro operations. However, JMRC failed to reap the benefits. After witnessing continuous fall in ridership in the second year of Metro’s operations, the JMRC is exploring other ways to earn revenue.

The corporation has also drafted a proposal to lease out the space at all nine stations to open 50 retail shops. The proposal has been forwarded to the state government for final approval. The JMRC is expecting to earn a revenue of Rs 9 crore per annum after leasing out the space for these shops.

Last year, the JMRC was struggling to earn revenue as average ridership in Jaipur Metro dropped from 49,774 per day in the first month (June 2015) of its operations to just 19,390 per day in December 2016.

This has also resulted in revenue loss for JMRC as it could earn Rs 70.44 lakh per month after spending approximately Rs 3.5 crore per month on Metro train operations. The route of phase-I (Mansarovar to Chandpole) has already been criticised by the BJP government several times as it is financially not viable.

Source: TOI

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Delhi Metro | DMRC to conduct online Customer Satisfaction Survey

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23/04/2017

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New Delhi: The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is conducting an online ‘Customer Satisfaction Survey’ through its website, from 24^th of April till the 21^st of May, 2017.

“The questions will try to cover Metro’s functioning to assess how the services can be further improved. The aspects which the survey shall cover are – overall satisfaction, availability, accessibility, ease of use, information prior to and during travel, reliability, customer care, comfort, crowding, security etc.”, published through a Press Release.

This international survey is being conducted by Railway and Transport Strategy Centre of Imperial College London which also coordinates working of CoMET and NOVA group. The survey will be conducted across 24 metros of the world. The questions will be objective type with multiple options so that the respondents can finish the questionnaires within three to five minutes. For reaching out to a larger target audience, the questionnaire will be available in both Hindi and English.
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Implementation of Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) is coming to reality

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22/04/2017

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The next big thing in transportation sector after MRTS in the lives of people of Delhi and NCR is coming to reality. Implementation of Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) is moving quickly to the ground.

New Delhi: The National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC) and National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has organised a stakeholder’s workshop on 22^nd April, 2017 at Habitat Centre, New Delhi to discuss various aspects of Delhi-Alwar RRTS Corridor.

The workshop was addressed by Shri B.K. Tripathi, Member Secretary, NCRPB, Shri Durga Shanker Mishra, Addl. Secretary (UD), MOUD and Shri Vinay Kumar Singh, Managing Director, NCRTC. Detailed presentation on the salient features of Delhi-Alwar Regional Rapid Transit System corridor were given by Team of Consultants. The important issues were discussed.

The length of the corridor is 180.50 km in which elevated portion is (124.5 km) and underground portion is (56 km) corridor. Total 19 stations in which first 09 stations are underground and rest 10 stations after that are elevated. The station will have universal access and will have platform screen doors for passenger’s safety. Design speed is 180 kmph while operational speed is 160 kmph and average speed is 100 kmph.

Signaling, Telecommunication and Automatic Fare Collection will have State of the Art technology. RRTS trains will have comfortable air-conditioned cars having business and economy class. This train will be available at the gap of every 5 to 10 minutes and will be very safe. Due to high modal shift RRTS will help in significant reduction of pollution and congestion on the roads of NCR and Delhi. System will use renewable sources of energy extensively. Once operational, RRTS trains will be the fastest, the most comfortable and the safest mode of travel in NCR. It will facilitate creation of job equitable, dispersal of high end job opportunities in the NCR and improvement in the quality of life all around, thereby, decongesting Delhi and ensuring sustainable urban development.

The distance between Alwar and Delhi has been planned to be covered just in 104 minutes, Delhi-Mahipalpur (Aero city) in 12 minutes, Delhi-Manesar in 30 minutes and Delhi-Rewari in 57 minutes. The total project is planned to be completed in about 6 years’ time after approval of the DPR. The cost of the project on the basis of year 2016 is about INR 37,539 crores, to be funded by Government of India, concerned State Governments and funding agencies

Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) consists of three prioritized corridors, which are-

Delhi – Ghaziabad – Meerut – 90 km
Delhi – Gurugram – Rewari – Alwar – 180 km and
Delhi – Sonipat – Panipat – 111 km

In these the DPR for first corridor (Delhi – Meerut) has already been approved for construction by the board of NCRTC.

Source: NCRTC Press Release

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Siemens launches Digital Rail Service in the United States

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21/04/2017

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SIEMENS has announced that it will launch a new digital rail service in the United States, which will use sensors and software platforms to put intelligence behind billions of data points created on the country’s rail network.

The software aims to help operators reduce unplanned downtime, improve efficiency, planning and performance, and generate energy and cost savings.

Siemens will build its digital services hub in Atlanta, Georgia, and a new east coast locomotive service headquarters in New Castle, Delaware, later this year.

The city of Atlanta and Charlotte Area Transit System (Cats) will be among the first transport providers to put the data to use from their existing fleets to improve operations and safety.
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Siemens will collect information captured by onboard systems used on the Siemens-built Atlanta streetcar and analyse data points to make best use of the fleet. Potential data points include:: slow vehicle movements to identify traffic bottlenecks in order to reduce delays, passenger comfort, and horn usage by cars or pedestrian traffic warnings to determine possible infrastructure improvements that could increase safety.

In Charlotte, Cats is working with Siemens on a pilot programme for near real-time diagnostics and analysis of light rail system data to assist with maintenance recommendations.

The digital services offered are based on Railigent, a cloud-based industrial data analytics platform which features smart monitoring for real-time insight on vehicle state and location.

Source: Rail Journal

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Delhi Metro | DMRC’s ITO-Kashmiri Gate (Heritage Line) to open in May 2017

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21/04/2017

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New Delhi: After many breached deadlines, the Delhi Metro’s ‘Heritage Line’ from ITO to Kashmere Gate is finally set to open by next month. DMRC officials say that they have applied for the safety inspection of the line to the Commissioner, Metro Rail Safety (CMRS).

“Once the inspection is done and we get the go ahead, we will start operations on the line. It will certainly be thrown open to the public by the next month,” said a senior Metro official.

The 5.17 km-long line, which is entirety underground, will connect four heritage stations including — Jama Masjid, Delhi Gate, Lal Quila, and Kashmere Gate. Delhi Metro officials said that the opening of the line will bring respite to commuters, as the overall frequency of trains will improve. Besides, reaching Old Delhi will not be a hassle anymore.

The corridor is an extension of the Delhi Metro’s Violet Line — Escorts Mujesar (Faridabad) to ITO.

“Once the line is open, the operational constraints won’t be there, as trains will go directly to Kashmere Gate. So far, the frequency was low, as initially ITO was not supposed to be the originating station for the trains. But it was opened to public early, as it was a busy area and the rest of the line was not ready by then,” the official said.

Delhi commuters welcomed the move. Anisha Agarwal, a commuter said, “At present the frequency is very low at ITO. At times there is a gap of 15 to 20 minutes for the next train to come and it becomes too crowded. We need the new line to open soon.
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”

The corridor, which was slated to open by December 2015, was postponed to October 2016 and later to February this year. However, according to officials, the delay was because of multiple challenges that cropped up from the beginning, since these were heritage areas.

“Earlier, it took some time to get approvals from all heritage committees to start work. Later in October, construction work was stopped for a while because of pollution-control measures in which our machinery and labour had to be removed,” said the official.

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Delhi Metro | Metro services to begin from 4 AM on MCD polling day

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21/04/2017

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New Delhi: The metro train services in Delhi will commence from 4 AM on April 23 in view of the municipal polls, the DMRC today said.

Elections to the three civic bodies are due on Sunday and the Delhi State Election Commission is gearing up for the electoral exercise.

“On the day of the MCD elections, the Delhi Metro train services will start from 4:00 AM so that the staff deployed in election duty can avail the facility.

“The trains will run with a frequency of 30 minutes on all the lines till 06:00 AM. After 6:00 AM, metro trains will run as per the normal timetable throughout the day on all lines,” a senior DMRC official said.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) currently operates through various corridors — Yellow, Blue, Violet, Red, Green, Orange Lines — spanning across the length and breadth of the national capital and few neighbouring cities.

The Commission which has come up with special campaigns to raise awareness among voters has also displayed advertisements inside and out of metro premises.

Over 1.1 lakh voters in this polls are eligible to exercise their franchise for the first time.

The total number of electorate for the civic polls stands at 1,32,10,206 which include 73,15,915 men, 58,93,418 women and 793 voters in the other category.

(This article has not been edited by Metro Rail News's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)

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