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Chennai Metro: Tamil Nadu seeks Centre’s nod to extend Chennai Metro line till Thiruvottiyur

Narendra Shah
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Chennai: Amid the growing demand for extending the metro rail network to north Chennai, the state government on Tuesday sought clearance from the Centre to extend the line from Washermenpet to Thiruvottiyur.

“I am happy to note that substantial progress has been achieved in the implementation of Chennai Metro Rail project and a part of the elevated section from Koyambedu to Alandur is to be commissioned soon,” governor K Rosaiah said in his address to the assembly.

Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) had completed trials and requested the state government for a date for inaugurating the 11km Alandur-Koyambedu stretch.

The state has taken up preparation of detailed project reports for phase II corridors and the governor expressed the hope that the Centre would support the state in completing work on the additional corridors expeditiously.

CMRL has completed survey of the line between Washermenpet and Thiruvottiyur and is ready to float tenders after the Centre gives its sanction and finalises the funding pattern.

With the ongoing work expected to be completed in a year, CMRL is going ahead with its plan to expand the network. It has called for a tender to identify a consultant to prepare detailed project report for three new lines — Madhavaram to Light House (17 Km), Koyambedu to Injambakkam (27 Km) and Madhavaram to Perumbakkam (32 km).

“The city should have had around 200km of metro rail by now based on the population. We are taking up new lines. The aim is to ensure there is a metro rail station within walking distance anywhere in the city. Share of public transport should increase so that roads will get decongested and quality of life will be better,” said a senior CMRL official.

Mumbai Metro: MMRC has set its sights on a deadline of mid-2020

Narendra Shah
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Mumbai: The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRC) has set its sights on a deadline of mid-2020 to throw open the underground metro rail line.

This deadline is achievable only if everything goes as planned and if there aren’t any delays or hurdles faced throughout the construction phase of six years.

But the fact is that the awarding of the contract for construction of civil works, that is tunnels and stations, is already behind schedule.

A look at MMRC’s drawing board shows that the civil works should have taken off in early 2015, but the reality is that the bidders – 9 consortia – are yet to submit their technical and financial bids.

The MMRC will take up most of this year to assess the technical bids, and if the bids are acceptable, only then would the sealed financial quotations be opened.

Therefore, it is only during the end of this calendar year that the project would be parcelled out in 7 different installments.

This means groundwork should commence either by November-December 2015 or some time in January-March 2016.

Once the system is ready, it will take another 6 months for rigorous rounds of testing, trials and certifications followed by determination of the initial fare.

By the time all this happens the year 2021 will have set in.

Kochi Metro: KMRL released Rs.2 Crore for Pachalam Railway Over-bridge

Narendra Shah
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Kochi: The long-delayed Pachalam railway overbridge (ROB) project, which was facing a severe fund crunch, has received an unexpected push from the Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL).

The agency, which had once disowned the project, has decided to pump in Rs 2 crore for completing the land acquisition for the ROB.

According to officials with the revenue department, around 15 landowners from a total of 28 had given consent to surrender their land for the project.

But the revenue department was not able to take over the land due to lack of funds. “With KMRL releasing Rs 2 crore, we will soon be able to take over the land. We will start disbursing the compensation amount from Wednesday,” said deputy collector Shobhana.

A total of 62 cents have to be taken over from 28 landowners. The land value fixed by the district level purchase committee (DLPC) in the area is Rs 15 lakh a cent. The total amount required to compensate landowners and rehabilitate shop owners and house owners, who will lose their residences, for the project is pegged at Rs 15 crore. The revenue department has already given Rs 3.5 crore as compensation to some landowners. For compensating the remaining landowners, it will require Rs 4 crore.

It will also need at least Rs 6 crore to rehabilitate those who have to shift their shops or demolish their houses.

Given the fact that the exact number of those deserving rehabilitation can be decided only after demolishing the buildings, authorities will have time on their hands to provide rehabilitation. So, the department now urgently needs only Rs 4 crore. “We expect KMRL to provide the remaining amount required for land acquisition,” a revenue official said.

According to KMRL, it is not their responsibility to implement the ROB. “It is a project which figures in the list of preparatory works for the Kochi Metro rail. The state government had earmarked separate funds for those works. Now, we have released the funds as a temporary arrangement to help the revenue department complete the land acquisition,” KMRL sources said.

Originally, when the state government had issued the order to construct the ROB at Pachalam, it had fixed KMRL as the implementing agency. But when KMRL found the ROB would escalate the cost of Metro project, the agency requested the government to include it in the preparatory works.

The government then issued an order entrusting PWD with the construction of ROB. But the work failed to gather momentum due to the unavailability of funds. Objections from some local residents against the alignment also caused some delay. “But we didn’t have to stop work even for a single day due to their protests. The work on the project is progressing quickly now,” an official associated with the project claimed.

Chennai Metro: CMRL tunnel work going to be completed soon

Narendra Shah
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Chennai: Tunnelling between Egmore and Shenoy Nagar is also at an advanced stage with one tunnel completed and the other about 400 metres between Thirumangalam and Egmore nearing completion.

The tunnel boring machine is about 400 metres away from Nehru Park station, said a CMRL official. Work on laying the track from Egmore to Shenoy Nagar has started, he added.
Train delivered

Meanwhile, the 18th train set manufactured at Alstom factory in Sri City reached CMRL depot recently. This is the ninth train out of 33 to be delivered from Sri City in neighbouring Tada.

After preliminary checks, the train will be subjected to non-regression test and then it will be moved to test track for further testing and dynamic trails.

Chennai Metro, an equal joint venture between the Centre and the State government, is implementing the rail-based transport project with funding from Japan International Cooperation Agency.

The project, which is expected to ease road congestion in the city, will have two stretches totalling 45 km, linking important locations in the city, including North Chennai, Central Railway Station, Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminal at Koyambedu to the airport in the southern suburb of Chennai.

At present, various train trials are being conducted on the elevated structure between Koyambedu and Alandur. This stretch is likely to be opened for traffic soon.

Delhi Metro: DMRC launched archival website with the help of NIC.

Narendra Shah
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The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Monday launched a website in which documents of the organisation would now be digitally archived for easy retrieval.

The website has been developed, customised and security audited by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), an agency of the government of India.

This arrangement will facilitate long term preservation of documents and easy retrieval from the NIC server at the National Data Centre, Shastri Park.

“DMRC launched an archival solution website in which documents of the organisation will now be digitally archived as per the laid down policy with provision for easy retrieval as per requirement for internal use,” said a statement released by DMRC.

The managing director of DMRC Mangu Singh and deputy director general of the National Informatics Centre of the Ministry of Communications and IT Rajiv Prakash Saxena launched the website at Metro Bhawan in the presence of other senior officials from DMRC and NIC.

Singh appreciated the new endeavour and encouraged all the officers to sufficiently utilize the new facility.

The NIC will be hand holding the application software during the initial annual maintenance contract period in maintaining and updating the application, the statement said.

DMRC has been continuously trying to introduce more and more technology driven solutions for its commuters as well as employees, it added.

Kochi Metro: KMRL train coaches to get women-friendly

Narendra Shah
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Kochi: If the metro authorities’ plans bear fruit, passengers of Kochi metro rail, especially women, will get added facilities. The coaches of metro rail will have special features helpful for women including those who are pregnant. The design of the coaches will have the features catering to the elderly and physically challenged as well.

In an interactive session with Alstom, the manufacturers of the metro’s coach, and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) held in Bengaluru last week, the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) has given instructions to the manufacturers to incorporate certain additional features, which are women-friendly.

“We want to ensure that our passengers get maximum facilities. That’s why we held the meeting with the manufacturers,” an official with KMRL said.

“We are exploring whether some added facilities can be offered to pregnant women. Their seats, for example, can be one with an additional cushion.

Some changes in the positioning and design of seats also will help them. Pregnant women will get priority for using the seats,” the official said.

It was a first round of talks in this regard, officials said.

Though there will not be any separate compartment for women, there are plans to earmark separate areas in every coach for women. “If women want to have their privacy, they can use the seats in the area. Seats reserved for women can be in a row facing each other. This will ensure that no other persons would be standing in front of them. During peak hours, it will be helpful for women and avoid eve-teasing,” sources with the metro agency said.

There will be provisions, which are friendly to physically-challenged as well as elderly. Positioning and design of the seats will be arranged in such a fashion, which is helpful to elderly. In an effort to help the visually challenged, low-frequency beep sounds will be generated from ticket counters, doors and seats earmarked for them.

“This will help them easily identify such locations. We are also exploring the possibilities of attaching provisions for keeping wheelchairs attached to the seats for physically challenged. The manufacturers have agreed to try their level best for incorporating all these suggestions,” a KMRL official said.

There are also plan to give different colours to seats of physically challenged, women and elderly.

Rather than having a flat shape, the coaches will be curvy in nature. Design experts of Alstom had come down from Paris for attending the meeting in Bengaluru. They presented four designs and the metro agency is learnt to have handpicked one of it. The Alstom officials once again gave their word on supplying the coaches by the end of the year, a KMRL official said.

What is in store

There will be special features for women

Pregnant women and elderly may get specially-designed seats

There will not be special ladies’ compartments

But, there may be areas for women in each coach

Features to help physically-challenged as well as visually challenged will be there

Low frequency beep sound generated from doors, ticket counters, special seats will help the visually challenged locate such areas

Seats for different category may be given separate colours

Unspent Central Welfare funds with Civic Bodies may go to Metro rail projects

Narendra Shah
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New Delhi: As large sums from the allocations to the States to build houses for the urban poor and take up urban development initiatives remain unspent, the Union government is considering diverting them to Metro Rail projects to speed them up.

Union Urban Development Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu has expressed concern at the inability of the civic bodies to spend funds, especially those meant for social schemes to build houses for the poor and develop slums.

Allocations slashed

The revised Budget estimates slashed the allocations from Rs. 16,500 crore to Rs. 10,000 crore, but only Rs. 7,200 crore has been spent. Based on feedback from the States, the Urban Development Ministry hopes to spend the remaining Rs. 2,800 crore by March on Metro projects.

The Ministry has found that the States have been unable to spend the sum set aside for schemes such as the Rajiv Rinn Yojana, the National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) and the Rajiv Awas Yojana.

Only Rs. 550 crore of the Rs. 733 crore allocated for the NULM and Rs. 11 lakh of the Rs. 191 crore for the RRY has been spent. “There is a suggestion that since many of the projects such as the one on Smart Cities are yet to begin and the money has not been spent on several others, the unspent allocation can be used for the upcoming and ongoing Metro projects. A decision will be taken soon,” a Ministry official said.

“The Minister has spoken about the need to make the urban local bodies more efficient and more empowered to be able to pitch for funds and then utilise them for the welfare of the people.”

Chennai Metro: CMRL airport line is taking final shape

Narendra Shah
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Chennai: The new contractor, who has been awarded work to build viaduct and stations, has started building a trench to take the line below the surface under the air funnel area between OTA and Meenambakkam stations. Work was stalled for some time after an earlier contract failed.

The elevated metro rail line from Alandur dips below surface for around 500m after it crosses Officers Training Academy (OTA) station, and comes out and reaches Meenambakkam metro station. The alignment goes underground to prevent it from becoming a hindrance for flights landing on the second runway.

Work has picked up pace to build the trench outside the compound wall of the airport near Trident Hotel on GST Road. Two ramps that will take the line into the trench are complete. “Digging here is tricky. We need permission from the airport to use heavy machinery because the work spot is close to the runway,” said an official. The airport has started using the second runway when the main runway is closed for maintenance.

A good portion of the cut-and-cover trench is over, and concreting of the floor and the walls are going on. Once work is complete, the trench will be covered.

This stretch had landed in trouble after airport objected to metro rail having an elevated line. ITD Cementation is carrying out the trench work and URC Construction is doing the work on the viaduct and stations at OTA and Meenambakkam.

Metro rail was planning to complete work of the airport line from Little Mount to airport by the end of the year. The line is part of the Washermanpet-Saidapet-airport line.

Viaduct is complete from Little Mount to OTA while structural work of the stations — OTA, Meenambakkam and airport — on the route has been completed. Plastering and roof work is going on at these stations.

Delhi Metro: Alstom bags Rs.177 Crore contract from DMRC

Narendra Shah
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New Delhi: Alstom has bagged a contract worth Euro 25 million (approximately INR 177 crore) from Delhi Metro Rail Corporation.

“Alstom has been awarded a contract worth Euro 25 million by Delhi Metro Rail Corp to provide track work on the new line 7 of Delhi Metro by the end of 2016,” the company said in a statement.

This new line is expected to open in December 2016 and will be 59 km long and includes 38 stations.

It is part of the Delhi Metro Phase III project to extend the metro network from 6 to 8 lines. With the two new lines expected to open in early 2017, the number of commuters is projected to go up from 3 million currently to about 4 million.

Alstom is in charge of the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 30 km of concrete and ballast tracks. The concrete track is for the elevated and underground sections from Lajpat Nagar to Shiv Vihar stations, while the ballast track is for the depot.

Vizag Metro: Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) have been formed for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Metro Rail projects

Narendra Shah
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Hyderabad: Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) have been formed for Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Metro Rail projects and the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) were under preparation, according Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) officials.

This was conveyed to Chief Secretary I.Y.R. Krishna Rao during a review meeting with DMRC officials here on the progress of the two projects. The DPRs were in progress for covering a length of 39 km in Visakhapatnam and 25 km in Vijayawada.

The Chief Secretary requested the DMRC to complete the DPRs by the end of March and directed Principal Secretary, Municipal Administration and Urban Development, A. Giridhar to approach the Government of India to get funds according to the commitment in the A.P. Reorganisation Act.

The Chief Secretary also conducted a meeting with the Tourism Officials to discuss Shilparamam and tourism issues.

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