ALSTOM to provide signaling & telecom for Kochi Metro Rail Ltd

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27/01/2015

Kochi: ALSTOM has been awarded two contracts worth over Euro 65 million from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to supply signaling, telecom and electrification solutions for the new Kochi Metro line. The projects will be implemented in early 2016 and commercial service for first section is scheduled to begin in March2016.

25 Alstom Metropolis trains will circulate on the new Kochi metro line which is 25 km long and includes 22 stations. In the beginning, these trains will carry up to 15,000 passengers per hour and direction.

Alstom is in charge of the design, manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of Urbalis 400, its Communication-Based Train Control (CBTC) solution. It controls the movement of trains, allowing them to run at higher frequencies and speeds in total safety. Alstom’s Urbalis has been in service for 12 years on more than 40 metro lines worldwide.

In addition, Alstom will provide an integrated telecom solution comprising of radio, CCTV[4], Passenger Information Display System, Passenger Announcement System and Giga bit network to guarantee comfort and security of passengers. Alstom will be also in charge of the manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the 750V third rail traction electrification and auxiliary substations (ASS) and associated SCADA systems.

“Alstom is pleased to be awarded two more contracts for the city of Kochi after being awarded a contract related to metro train sets in 2014.These are the first contracts awarded to Alstom in India for telecom and electrification as well as for our CBTC-based signaling solution. Through our complete range of systems, Alstom is well positioned to support metro project developments across India. Our solutions are not only advanced but are equally competitive and innovative”, said Dominique Pouliquen, Senior Vice-President of Alstom Transport Asia-Pacific.

While the engineering will be led by Alstom’s site in Bangalore in India, equipment for the projects will come from Villeurbanne (France) and Bologna (Italy) sites.

Alstom has been present in India for more than a century. The company has recently opened a new facility at SriCity to build metro train sets and has a manufacturing unit in Coimbatore for traction systems and an engineering unit specialized in signalling solutions in Bangalore. Alstom has strong references in the country both in signalling and trains, including the metro train sets for Chennai and the signalling systems provided for Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur metros.

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Metro Rail News launched its online news portal www.metrorailnews.in

By

Narendra Shah

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26/01/2015

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Metro Rail News team is excited to announce the launch of their newly designed, dynamic online news portal, which goes live today, Monday 26^th January, 2015 on the great occasion of India’s 66^th Republic Day and is located at the new web address www.metrorailnews.in

The site’s homepage welcomes visitors with bold colours, a clean uncluttered design, and moving images with featured content focused on our mission to provide our news readers and clients with most accurate information, strengthen partner relations and share our knowledge and expertise in the field of metro rail, mono rail, light rail, high speed rail and associated industries.

The new website is divided into seven main sections: News, Project Updates, Tender Notices, Job Notices, Events, Publications and Articles. By moving to a more reader friendly layout, we allow visitors to access information based on their own choice rather than sift through everything to decide what is of interest to them.

Our current and prospective readers will find detailed information, latest news and services we offer to business people, rail professionals, rail organizations and likeminded groups.
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The website will feature new types of rich content, inspired by our experience, gathered materials and a great team of people working at Metro Rail News. You will find this content at home page in the form of latest news, latest articles, latest tenders, latest jobs, upcoming events, case studies, videos and presentations.

The website will be updated on a regular basis, with news of events, new project launches and new content. We will be encouraging our readers, contributors and clients to contact us through the website and sign up for our eNewsletter, the first issue of which will be released at the end of February. As this functionality shall be available within the next two weeks, please keep visiting the website.

If you experience any problems using the new website or if you have any suggestions, please contact us at marketing@metrorailnews.in or metrorailnews@gmail.com

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Metro railways making urban travel easier

By

Narendra Shah

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25/01/2015

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India’s urban transport story is certainly one of hope. In the last five years or so there has been a huge surge of interest across cities in urban transport solutions, largely due to the success of the Delhi Metro.

Though the Kolkata Metro has existed for around 20 years, it never generated the kind of excitement the Delhi one has.
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Cities currently implementing metro projects (or expanding existing lines) include Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bangalore and Lucknow.

It is reported that there are 19 cities currently working on project reports for urban solutions. Ludhiana’s report is said to be ready.

In the popular imagination, the metro is the answer to all transport problems. But metros need to meet certain criteria to be successful. They are capital intensive and can only be effective solutions for cities with large populations, where people have the ability to pay and ensure a high density of commuter traffic.

Not all Indian towns can sustain a metro. There is a view that for a metro to be a viable option, the city concerned should have a population of at least five million along with high commuter traffic.

There is a whole range of urban transport solutions possible for a country like India. Positive change can be brought about by improving the quality and efficiency of public bus transport systems, making them of the kind one sees in western cities where buses arrive on time and have digitised displays; there can be bus rapid transit systems with dedicated corridors; electric tramways; electric trolley buses; monorails; light rail systems. Then there could be metro rails of different intensities. Along with mainline solutions there can be a range of eco-friendly feeder systems. There are also green solutions, such as implemented in some cities of Europe, which have cycling tracks all over. One system feeds into another, which determines the efficacy of the overall urban transport solution.

In Gurgaon, for instance, there is a Rapid Metro coming up, which feeds into the Delhi Metro. There are electric rickshaws in New Delhi. There should be a combination of urban trunk routes and a feeder system. The feeder system has been a historic weak spot in Indian urban transport solutions.

What the country requires is a mapping of the top 100 cities from the smallest to the largest. Then technical choices need to be made. Urban transport choices have to be tailored to the specific needs of each city.

Also, for an urban transport solution to be effective and efficient it has to keep place with urbanization. One characteristic of urbanisation has been growth of satellite towns; we need solutions to enable movement of people from these peripheral towns to their main work centres. So while looking at urban transport solutions, one should not only look within the city but also at the connecting urban nodes.

Given the rate at which India is growing there will have to be more and more satellite towns, from which people commute to the main centre and go back, what in the United States are known as “sleeper towns”.

A plan for a Regional Rapid Transport System (RRTS) has been approved in principle for the National Capital Region. Three lines have been approved under RRTS at an estimated cost of Rs 72,000 crore. They will run between Delhi and Sonepat/Panipat, Delhi and Alwar, and Delhi and Meerut, via Ghaziabad. These will be commuter trains like the metro, but they will not be under the Delhi Metro or the Railways. The urban ministry and the respective state governments will coordinate to run them.

Other innovations are taking place too. There has been a mushrooming of radio taxis. In Gurgaon, there are radio tuk-tuks (autorickshaws which can be called on the mobile). BRTS is also catching on, especially in cities with long, wide carriageways such as Ahmedabad and Indore. BRTS did not work effectively in Delhi, because of space constraints and location challenges. But it has succeeded in cities across the world with wide carriageways. In Delhi, BRTS was squeezed into a cramped corridor. Space for the BRTS was squeezed out by restricting car movement.

Indian cities are ideal for a wide range of urban transport solutions. For example, a city like Chandigarh would be ideal for an electric trolley-bus service or an electric tram service. It has the space, it has long carriageways and no shortage of power. A city like Chandigarh requires lighter solutions than a metro.

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Delhi Metro l NIT for exclusive semi-naming rights at selected Metro Stations.

By

Narendra Shah

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25/01/2015

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Name of work: Notice Inviting Tender (DLA 41420) for exclusive semi-naming rights at selected Metro Stations.

Date of Sale of Tender Document: 29.01.2015 to 02.03.2015 on all working days between 15.00hrs to 17.00hrs

Last Date & Time for Submission of Tenders: Latest by 15.00hrs on 03.02.2015

For more details, kindly visit http://www.delhimetrorail.com/tenders.aspx

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Great career in Metro Rail industry in India : A study on Delhi Metro

By

Narendra Shah

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25/01/2015

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DMRC’s strong work ethic makes it one of the best companies to work for in India.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is fast emerging as a respected brand in the job market. A professional work culture has helped the company leapfrog into the top 25 of a list of best companies to work for in India. DMRC has seen heavy recruitment over the last few years as it scaled up to commence metro services in the national capital. The company, registered in 1995, began operations in 2002. Along the way the number of employees has grown – from 2,400 employees in 2004 to about 8,500 now, of which 650 (approximately seven per cent) are officers, while the rest are non-executive staff.

DMRC follows a rigorous recruitment procedure to ensure that only the best make the cut. It recruits in three steps – written exam, interview, followed by a medical test. All the new employees are then given extensive training at its training institute at Shastri Park in East Delhi – the only one of its kind in South Asia. They are put through customised training modules on all aspects of operations and maintenance of rail based urban transportation systems.

The workshops include team building exercises and simulated training programmes – metro train drivers, for instance, gain hands-on experience on simulators before they drive the train. “On-time performance is one of the first few lessons here as we are providing services.

DMRC trains staff from other metro systems also such as Bangalore Metro, Chennai Metro, Jaipur Metro, Mumbai Metro, Rapid Metro and Kochi Metro.

Select DMRC executives have to undergo additional training and being sent to IIT Delhi annually for a one-year full-time programme – Post Graduate Diploma in Metro Technology and Management – sponsored by DMRC.

The company spends Rs 7 lakh on such candidates every year, which includes a monthly stipend of Rs25,000 and free accommodation.

The University of Tokyo also takes three DMRC technical officers for a course on transport engineering with a scholarship for three months every year.

Besides investing heavily in training its workforce, DMRC also provides perks to its employees to retain talent. As many as 20 per cent of its employees are provided residential flats – this number is expected to rise to about 33 per cent over the next few years.

A (non-executive) DMRC employee is also entitled to a home loan of Rs 15 lakh, and it goes up to Rs 25 lakh at the executive level. DMRC also pays for the medical treatment of staff and their dependent including parents at leading private hospitals, such as Max, Appolo, Sir Ganga Ram and Fortis.

The salary compensation is about Rs 40,000 for a junior engineer, while a senior administrative grade officer, equivalent to a joint secretary in government jobs, gets Rs 1.7 lakh. The average compensation is about 20 to 25 per cent higher than at Indian Railways.

High Churn
A highly trained workforce, however, has also meant high attrition at DMRC – particularly with the planned introduction of metro services in other big cities in India such as Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, Lucknow and Jaipur. (Bangalore Metro has already begun operations.) DMRC is the only place that has skilled manpower for these projects. As 40 per cent of the loco drivers are graduates, B. Tech degree holders who otherwise should have been assistant engineers in IT companies, it is inevitable that they will always be looking out for better profiles. Of its 8,000-odd employees, only 4,000 have been with DMRC for about three years or more, and nearly 3,500 employees have left since 2002.

People keep trying for better opportunities and the attrition level at DMRC is still between 7 to 10 per cent annually, much lower than in some other sectors such as IT, where it is 35 to 50 per cent. Old-timers at DMRC have a higher level of commitment as earlier it was a limited team, resulting in higher levels of motivation.

Indeed, given the brand equity of DMRC in the job market, employees say they keep getting job offers from the private sector as well as PSUs, sometimes with a big increase in their compensation levels.

However, the work culture at DMRC makes many loyal employees. There is no better organisation than DMRC. DMRC’s management is 100 per cent committed to its employees.

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