Akshay

Making the trains run on time - Face value
The Economist

Elattuvalapil Sreedharan has become a hero in India by doing the seemingly impossible

ALL over India, the ultra-modern jostles jarringly beside the medieval—or, these days, underneath it. At Chawri Bazar, in old Delhi, bicycle-rickshaw riders tout for business, while stray cows lounge around in the middle of the roundabout. They are ready to greet those emerging from the 21st century—the deepest station in Delhi's underground-rail network. The passengers have travelled on fast, punctual trains, and arrived to a spotlessly clean station. The ticket barriers, using tokens and smart cards, are state-of-the-art, and the three-stage escalator glides smoothly up to the surface.

Indian infrastructure is famously decrepit and is often cited as the single biggest impediment to economic growth. So Delhi is justifiably proud of its metro. Joyriders are common—in fact, the fare system has just been tweaked to deter them. Many other Indian infrastructure projects suffer controversy, scandal, delay and extra cost. An eight-year-old effort to modernise the embarrassingly shoddy airports in Delhi and Mumbai, for example, has this month suffered a nationwide strike by airport workers, and legal challenges to the contracts that have, at long last, been placed. The 17km (10 mile) metro in Kolkata (Calcutta) took 22 years to build and revised its budget upward on 14 occasions. Yet, when phase one of Delhi's three-stage metro project was completed in December, with the opening of a third line, bringing the length of the network to 56km, it was on budget and nearly three years ahead of schedule.

That it was built at all has brought kudos to Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, managing director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC). That it was built so quickly, works so well and bears comparison to the best in the world has made him a national hero. Opening the new line, India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, called Mr Sreedharan “a role model for future generations”. The adulation is a mixed blessing for a man who says he wants to retire. Already 73, he has agreed to work for three more years. This will allow him to see phase two—another 53km—well on the way to its deadline, of the summer of 2010, in time for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Besides the day job, the government has called on his advice for metro projects in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata and Mumbai. He was even dragged into the airport-modernisation mess, as head of a committee appointed to examine the tender process.

Mr Sreedharan has a disarmingly simple explanation for his success: the ownership structure of DMRC. Half the equity is held by the central government, and half by the Delhi authorities. Instead of doubling the amount of bureaucratic meddling, Mr Sreedharan says this almost eliminates it: there is no government ministry to which every file has to be passed. Decision-making is speeded up further by the board's delegation of authority to him. When he took the job in 1997—seven years after his scheduled retirement—he demanded, and was given, full power to pick his team and a promise of non-interference.

That shows how much respect he already commanded. An engineer and career officer of state-owned Indian Railways, he had spent much of the 1990s running what was then the world's biggest overground-railway building project. This was the Konkan Railway, along India's south-western coast, which was the first such infrastructure contract in India ever awarded on “build, operate and transfer” principles.

Mr Sreedharan's experience taught him two lessons that seem obvious enough, but that many other developers of infrastructure in India have yet to learn. The first is to insist on the global best, rather than to favour Indian firms. The metro's consultants are led by a consortium from Japan (whose government has financed two-thirds of the metro's cost through a soft loan); the signalling and fare-collection systems are French, the rolling-stock Korean.

The second is an emphasis on avoiding the scourge that plagues so many Indian public-sector ventures: corruption. He has tried to purify DMRC's procurement processes by removing almost every element of subjectivity from tender-evaluation. He has also had to show the door to some employees who did not meet his exacting standards.

Pure at heart

Western prejudice might expect such a demanding boss to be some kind of tartar. Mr Sreedharan's own management philosophy sounds so glibly aggressive as to be positively American: “lead from the front, not push from the rear”. But he is not prone to table-thumping harangues. In fact, he seems more like a monk than a manager. He puts his continued health and sharpness down to a “very disciplined life”, of yoga, walks, jogging and controlled eating. His only recreation, he says, is “reading spiritual books”, which gives him “mental composure” and makes him “pure at heart”.

The new line has recently suffered some minor disruption. Earlier this month, part of it had to be shut for 90 minutes when a bird dropped a wet twig on some part of the wiring. There has been occasional trouble with points and the signalling, causing a few services to be cancelled, and some worries about crowd management and the risk of stampedes. Mr Sreedharan explains that the metro could not be “rude” to its customers by closing stations. Such courtesy is a rarity.

Mr Sreedharan denies that the zest for beating deadlines was a factor in any of the new line's “teething troubles”; nor has his reputation suffered. If he is criticised, it is for becoming indispensable, a charge he also denies, claiming there is a “good line of successors”. He is right that the principles he has followed should not need him to enforce them. Mr Sreedharan may be the exception, but his practices could be the rule.

__________________
If at first you don't succeed, call it v1.0!

Akshay

Indian Railways Unveils Biggest Track Expansion Plan in Decade
Bloomberg

Indian Railways unveiled its biggest spending plan in a decade to build new tracks as faster economic growth stokes demand for transporting goods from oil to cement.

Asia's oldest rail network plans to spend 220 billion rupees ($5 billion) to build 10,000 kilometers (6,215 miles) of dedicated freight lines by 2010, Railways Minister Lalu Prasad said in his budget speech to parliament in New Delhi today.

The expansion would allow companies including refiner Indian Oil Corp. and iron ore exporter Sesa Goa Ltd. to move goods to consumers and sea ports across the world's seventh-biggest landmass faster and cheaper. The government is removing infrastructure bottlenecks to accelerate the pace of economic growth to as much as 10 percent over the next decade from an average 6 percent since 1980.

"This will be of great help for building India's infrastructure,'' said Viswanathan Vasudevan, who helps manage about $180 million of Indian equities at Aquarius Investment Advisors Pte. in Singapore. "Speedy implementation is essential because economic growth is saturating the existing network.''

India's economy will probably grow as much as 8.1 percent in the year ending March 31, following a 7.5 percent expansion a year earlier, the country's statistics bureau forecast Feb. 7.

Prasad outlined his spending plans four days before Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram's federal budget, in which analysts expect increased spending on roads and ports.

Indian Railways is the world's biggest commercial or utility employer with about 1.5 million on its payroll. It has presented its own budget since 1925, after British colonial rulers separated its finances from the federal government's in 1924.


Freight Estimate

Prasad today increased the estimate freight to be carried in the year ending March 31 to 668 million tons from 635 million tons projected a year ago. Railways aims to carry 726 million tons in the year starting April 1, he said.

"Indian Railways are scaling historic highs in freight and passenger business,'' Prasad said today. "We will not allow resource constraints to hamper expansion of rail network.''

The railway budget seeks to accelerate the pace of freight transport growth without increasing fares and tariffs, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said after the budget.

Prasad said Indian Railways has 110 billion rupees of surplus cash and promised to generate more funds for expansion. The network plans to borrow 41.7 billion rupees in the year beginning April 1, he said.

The minister cut freight rates for gasoline and diesel by 8 percent and said the cost of transporting most commodities will remain unchanged for the fifth straight year. Earnings from moving goods constitute about 66 percent of the railways' revenue.


Passenger Fares

Prasad cut some passenger fares for travel by air- conditioned coaches to lure passengers drawn by low-cost airlines.

Total revenue, including income from freight carrying passengers, for the year ending March 31 is estimated to increase 16 percent to 546 billion rupees, Prasad said. He projected revenue of 600 billion rupees for the year starting April 1.

"India's economic expansion is helping Railways improve its freight earnings,'' said D. H. Pai Panandiker, director general at RPG Foundation, an economic policy group in New Delhi. "That will partly solve the finances of the expansion project.''

India was the first in Asia to get a passenger railway when British rulers opened a 21-mile track from Mumbai to Thane on April 16, 1853. The network now covers 63,000 kilometers and is the world's second largest under one management after the U.S. It runs 11,000 trains every day, 7,000 of which carry passengers.


Network Expansion

India's rail network expanded by 633 route kilometers between 1990 and 2004, while China added 16,608 route kilometers in the same period, according to Morgan Stanley economists Chetan Ahya and Mihir Sheth.

China plans to invest 1.25 trillion yuan ($155 billion) in railways measuring 17,000 kilometers in length from 2006 to 2010, state-run Xinhua news agency said on Jan. 6. That will bring the country's total length of lines to 90,000 kilometers, it said.

Indian Railways' proposed freight corridor will link the capital New Delhi with Mumbai and ports in the west, and with the eastern port city of Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta. It will be built in two phases, Prasad said.

"The government is trying to remove bottlenecks,'' said A.K. Rai, a director at Sesa Goa, India's biggest non-state-run iron ore exporter. The expansion will link "industrial areas.''

Prasad's spending plan is the biggest on the monopoly network since the 35 billion rupee Konkan Railway Corp.'s 760- kilometer line in western India was built in 1997.

Tracks connecting the India's biggest cities are "saturated in most sections'' and some "are unfit to carry freight trains at higher speeds,'' according to a May 2002 government report.


'Welcome Move'

Starting dedicated freight lines may benefiting companies including Sesa Goa and Indian Oil, the nation's largest refiner.

"This will be a welcome move,'' said N. Srikumar, spokesman for Indian Oil Corp., the nation's largest refiner. ``Existing lines are used to carry both passenger and freight. So, invariably freight movement gets delayed because trains carrying passengers get priority.''

The government on Jan. 5 allowed non-state companies to run container trains. Of the 14 companies that have applied to such trains, Pipavav Rail Corp. has already been granted a license, Railways said in a Feb. 16 statement.

Railways' share of the country's freight traffic has halved to 30 percent over the past five decades as the government expanded roads and oil companies built their own pipelines and coastal shipping improved. The government is close to completing a $14 billion road program, adding 14,100 kilometers of highways.

An expanded rail network "would reduce the reliance on roads,'' Jayesh Doshi, vice president of treasury at Gujarat Ambuja Cements Ltd., India's fourth-biggest cement maker. It transports 15 to 20 percent of its total cement volumes by rail.

Akshay

Indian Government Signals Growing Support for BRT
Nalin Sinha

As plans are made to build systems that can feasibly address the growing mobility needs of India’s major cities, officials are reconsidering a longstanding preference for metro rai

On March 21, more than 400 mayors, municipal commissioners, town planners, engineers, transport corporations, financial institutions, bus manufacturers, researchers and policy-makers from across India gathered in Delhi for the Ministry of Urban Development’s Conference and Exhibition on Alternative Technologies for Public Transport. The aim of the conference was to introduce key decision-makers to a balanced range of approaches to public transport and enable India’s cities to make more well-informed choices about addressing their mobility needs.

Going in, many participants viewed the gathering as a pivotal opportunity to correct the strong historical bias that many Indian cities have had toward building metro rail systems, despite the heavy government subsidies typically required to sustain them.

“High-cost Metro is not the answer to the future of cities whose population is expected to double in the next 25 years,” admitted Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy, India’s Minister of Urban Development, in his inaugural address.

In addition to presentations about metro, monorail, light rail transit and sky bus options, presentations were made by many international experts on the bus rapid transit (BRT) systems implemented in Bogotá, Curitiba, Jakarta, Seoul, and Taipei, as well as the India-based BRT systems proposed in Ahmedabad and Delhi.

Delivering the concluding speech at the event, Urban Development Secretary Mr. Anil Baijal said, “The BRT presentations were really very educative in that they have broken the myths that BRT requires very wide right-of-ways and roads, that BRT takes away road space from mixed traffic, and that BRT can not take more than 10,000 passengers per hour per direction.”

“In fact, the BRT experience of Bogotá and other cities demonstrates that the system is capable of transporting more than 40,000 passengers per hour per direction, equivalent to any Metro rail,” he added. Delhi, Bangalore and Mumbai are currently planning Metro systems.

Mr. Baijal announced that under the Jawahar Lal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, national support will be offered to states for adopting appropriate public transport systems that are non-polluting and people-friendly. The government has approved the plan of spending INR 50,000 crores (over US$ 11 billion) over a period of seven years for urban and transportation programmes in various Indian cities. For the 2006-07 annual budget, the Government of India has allocated Rs. 5,000 crores (over US$1 billion). In addition, the Urban Development Ministry has taken a decision to encourage private-public participation for the development of infrastructure in different states and cities though build-operate-transfer projects.

The plan calls for 60% of the cost to be borne by private players, 20% by the Mission and the remaining 20% by the respective states. States seeking central funds for road infrastructure projects will also have to include adequate pedestrian space and dedicated bicycle tracks in their plans. The Ministry of Urban Development seeks to ensure that no city is granted approval for a Metro rail system without first conducting serious feasibility studies.

Between May and July of this year, the Indian government plans to conduct workshops to disseminate information about alternative technologies for public transport (including Bus Rapid Transit) among key decision-makers in nine cities – Bhubaneshwar, Hyderabad, Raipur, Trivandrum, Pune, Guwahati, Lucknow, Jaipur, and Chandigarh.

Akshay

Now, change at Churchgate

The Makeover Plans For Churchgate And 3 Other Stations Will Make Your Daily Commute A Breeze. Here’s A Sneak Peek

Yogesh Naik | TNN

Mumbai: Churchgate is taking the superfast train to becoming a state-of-theart, s****y, air-conditioned station.
Officials say the plans to recast Churchgate, along with Mumbai Central, Byculla and Goregaon, are going to be included in the second phase of the Mumbai Urban Transport Project. But the financial details are still to be worked out.
The redeveloped Churchgate will look, feel and function better, say officials. There will be better connectivity with the roads outside (in the form of two new subways on either side of Veer Nariman Road), the station interiors will be roomier (the width of the concourse will be increased from 12 metres to 15.5 metres) and the exteriors will be all glass.
The widening, say officials, will allow easier commuter movement and the passenger walkway will be widened by realigning the shops in the subway.
State secretary for Mumbai projects Sanjay Ubale said: “We are coordinating with railways. Chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has already written to the railway ministry.’’
The station now handles 46,000 passengers every hour during the peak hours and officials hope that the proposed plans will add to the speed of passenger disbursal. The plans have kept in mind the proposed Churchgate Metro station that will be located near the Oval Maidan. Veer Nariman Road is the only connection between the proposed Metro and Churchgate stations and a wider subway has been planned to make things easier.
MRVC officials feel there is “improper’’ utilisation of the subway at the northern end of the station and there are people crossing over to Maharshi Karve Marg, adding to the congestion on the road. The new station area plans, therefore, involve shutting it down altogether.
Planners also wanted to include a subway at the southeastern corner of Churchgate but this could be difficult to implement, officials said.
Inside, plans involve relocating the offices on the ground floor of the concourse to the mezzanine floor.
Activities at the mezzanine level will also be reorganised to accommodate retail shops and eateries on the east and station offices, together with existing ticket counters, will operate from the
western wing. Eateries and cafeterias will also be built on the ground level; they will, however, also be accessible from the eastern side of the station to avoid congestion during rush hours.
The existing station shed is a steeland-asbestos affair. The concept plan has strongly recommended scrapping the use of asbestos sheets and replacing them with roofing material to give the shed a modern-day look. Work will also touch the facade.
But, perhaps more importantly, the concept plan says the entire building may be air-conditioned (with a central plant).
The redesigned building will give more space to the cramped Western Railway offices though 3000 square metres on the first floor will be let out for commercial use. A light steel roofing system will be in place. “The visual survey and assessments have led us to realise that it is possible to efficiently reorganise the existing railway offices on the upper seven floors and the floor above the mezzanine could be leased out for private commercial use. This could generate Rs 30 lakh
a month,’’ the official
said.

SOUTHERN SUBWAY

Passengers every peak hour: 24,000 Problems: Dimly lit, poor ventilation, poor construction quality, no fire escape

THE CHANGES

Widen subway from 12 m to 15.5 m Have 2 new subway outlets on either side of Veer Nariman Rd

THE OBJECTIVE

Facilitate smooth dispersal and movement of commuters within stations Provide for smooth dispersal of vehicular and pedestrian traffic out of the stations Give commuters facilities close to international standards Make stations aesthetically appealing

CHURCHGATE THEN

A beautiful chalet-styled station structure used to serve commuters till 1957, when it was pulled down to make way for a seven-storeyed building

THE STATION NOW

It is the terminal station and headquarters of Western Railway
The ground floor has the station concourse, all ticket counters, toilets for commuters, public telephones, cafeteria, book stalls and other retail outlets, ATMs

Passengers every peak hour:

46,000

Passengers who walk to and from station:

68%

THE FUTURE


Remodel existing pedestrian link
Extend southern subway along Veer Nariman Road
Connect railway station with proposed Churchgate Metro station
Modify northeast entrance that leads to Maharshi Karve Road Improve parking facilities and pedestrian zone to the west
All offices on the groundfloor concourse will be shifted to the mezzanine floor
Increase space in the ticketing areas
Improve parking facility
Widen southern station concourse from 12 m -15.5 m

NORTHEAST ENTRANCE AREA

Problems: Entrance is improperly defined; this causes problems for vehicular and pedestrian traffic on Maharshi Karve Rd to the east of the busy station

THE CHANGES

Close entry (to encourage use of northern subway) Have new taxi queue on Maharshi Karve Rd


Artist impression


The old & the new


Another

Akshay

Pragati Maidan Metro hotspot
After Phase-I Over In 4 Months, Station To Be 2nd Busiest On Line 3

Nidhi Sharma/TNN

The trade fair rush, traffic jams at ITO or an evening play at Mandi House will never be the same again. In less than four months, Delhi Metro will spread its network beyond Barakhamba Road to reach Pragati Maidan, ITO and IP Estate. Though a little delayed, this section will bring much-needed respite to the office-goer at ITO. With this 2.81-km stretch, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will complete Phase I of the project. There will be three stations on this stretch — Mandi House, Pragati Maidan and IP Estate. The work is nearing completion at the stations. The only hitch is the railway crossing near Pragati Maidan which has to be manoeuvred so that the tracks can reach IP station. The crossing had been a big challenge for DMRC and has been delaying the extension. The stretch, that got the final nod from the Centre in September 2004, had to be inaugurated in March but will now be opened in September.

MANDI HOUSE: From Barakhamba station, the tunnel goes through Barakhamba Road to the Mandi House roundabout where it takes a slight turn towards Sikandra Road where Mandi House station would be located. There will be four entry points.
The station will be smaller than most other underground stations. From the ticket windows and automatic fare collection (AFC) gates, stairs will take you to the platform. DMRC is adopting a new design for the walls —tiles will be put on the wall till a certain height and above this a sound-absorbent material will be installed till the ceiling.
After this station, the tunnel will emerge from under the ground and start gaining elevation. A 5.5-m high and 300-m long ramp will be constructed in front of Lady Irwin College. The train will travel on this to reach the elevated tracks leading to Pragati Maidan station.

PRAGATI MAIDAN: It will be the second busiest on Metro Line 3 from Dwarka to Barakhamba and has been designed to handle passenger volumes upto 1.3 lakh. The elevated station will come up near Appu Ghar. For the benefit of commuters visiting exhibitions at Pragati Maidan, ticket windows will also be made outside the station building near the exhibition area.
It will have three levels — ground, concourse and platform. The ground level will have an entrance from the main road and space for offices. Escalators and stairs will lead to concourse level, which will have ticket windows. One unique aspect will be a ramp from Pragati Maidan which will directly take the commuters to ticket windows at the concourse level. This will be a direct link. During the trade fair rush, additional ticket windows will be opened for commuters.

INDRAPRASTHA: The station will come up opposite WHO building. A foot overbridge will be constructed in front of the DTC depot for pedestrians. The biggest challenge in constructing the station was the space constraint. Two big drains and Pragati power station had to be accounted for during construction.
Late, Worth The Wait

MANDI HOUSE
Location: Near Mandi House, opp. Himachal Bhawan Daily passenger flow: 74,556 in 2021 Characteristics:
Underground station (depth 9.2 metres) Tunnel from Barakhamba to Sikandra Road station The tunnel will continue beyond the station and then emerge through a ramp

PRAGATI MAIDAN
Location: Near Appu Ghar Daily passenger flow: 1,29,184 in 2021 Parking: 4,725 sq m Characteristics:
Elevated station Ticket windows will be on concourse, on the station’s first level. Vehicular drop-off point will be on this floor. Access through a 70-metre ramp which will land inside Pragati Maidan exhibition ground Extra ticket windows to be opened during fairs

INDRAPRASTHA
Location: Opposite WHO building on Ring Road Daily passenger flow: 48,500 in 2021 Characteristics: Elevated station Metro will use cantilever technique to cross over existing railway tracks, without disrupting traffic, to reach this station 80-metre-long foot overbridge in front of IP depot to cross Ring Road.

Akshay

Work on monorail project to start on August 15
Special Correspondent

It will a provide a link to the metro rail in Bangalore city
__________________________________________________ _______________
+ The project will be implemented from Kanakapura Road to the Majestic area
+ It will cost about Rs. 45 crore a km, say promoters
__________________________________________________ ________________


BANGALORE: The Government has decided to execute an 18-km monorail network as an alignment to the Bangalore Metro Rail Project.

Participating in a "meet-the-press" programme organised by Bangalore Reporters' Guild here on Saturday on the coalition Government completing 100 days, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said work on the project would be inaugurated on the August 15.

The monorail project will be implemented from Kanakapura Road to the Majestic area to provide a link to the metro rail. Details regarding the cost and private sector participation would be worked out soon, he said.

The Centre cleared the 36.5-km Bangalore Metro Rail Project on April 27, which will be implemented at an estimated cost of Rs. 6,395 crore.

The project provides for two lines — one from Jalahalli Circle to R.V. Teachers' College in Jayanagar, and the other from Mysore Road to Byappanahalli. About two years ago, a proposal was submitted to the Government for implementing the monorail project in a stretch of 89.9 km in two phases, covering the areas not covered by the metro rail.

The estimated cost of the monorail project was Rs. 4,045 crore.

Promoters say that it will cost about Rs. 45 crore a km

Akshay

Whistling for a long journey ahead
Railways hires consultant for freight corridor project
Shalini Singh/TNN

New Delhi: Two new international consultants have found favour with the railways, bagging assignments that are most critical for the railways future growth. The move reflects the railways growing intolerance for sub-standard delivery for missioncritical projects.

US-based Wilbur Smith Associates will prepare a business plan for its Rs 22,000 crore Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project at a cost of Rs 5 crore, while a Bangladeshi firm, SFS Ahmad has bagged a Rs 10-crore ‘Accounting Reforms’ study. SFS Ahmad is in a consortium with Ernst & Young (E&Y) and other firms and will complete the study over 18 months.

This is Wilbur Smith’s first railway consultancy project in the country. According to sources, the company was one of 6-7 bidders, including more entrenched firms like McKinsey, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young, Crisil and Icra. Of these, only Wilbur Smith and McKinsey were shortlisted. The study will be completed within 3-4 months.
Earlier this year, GE funded a study on ‘Capacity Enhancement on the Indian Railways’. The three-month study was completed by McKinsey in May. However, the quality of the work was found to be substandard, leading to a search for first-grade transportation consulting firms.
Before that, Canadian consultancy firm Canac, undertook a study on double-stack containers for the railways. This was funded by Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). This project was abandoned by Canac half-way.
Lea International also did a study for the railways at no cost on Port Connectivity. However, since the railways’ very survival now rests on reform-oriented growth, they are unwilling to take chances with halfbaked consultancy work and the opportunity given to new firms is a signal of this.

In more recent years Wilbur Smith’s most prestigious assignments include the feasibility and traffic and revenue studies for the Eurotunnel project between France and England; planning and engineering design services for the Singapore mass rapid transit system and planning and program management assistance for the implementation of urban infrastructure improvements in Egypt.

Akshay

Rs 50,000 cr ride on Metro
K P Narayana Kumar / New Delhi

Metro rail could soon become an industry of over Rs 50,000 crore if all the projects for which the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has submitted detailed project reports to various states are implemented.

The amount is as much as the government had earmarked for its high-profile Golden Quadrilateral highway project when it was launched in 1998.

All told, DMRC has ten Metro projects in the pipeline. Apart from Delhi, work on Mumbai and Bangalore metros has got under way.

The other projects the DMRC is eyeing include those for Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Chennai, Kolkota, and the extensions from Delhi to Noida, Gurgaon, and Ghaziabad.

DMRC officials said given the number of projects for which the organisation had turned consultant, it might in the long-run even open a separate consultancy division.

After Delhi, Mumbai has the largest Metro project, involving a cost of around Rs 12,583 crore for its three phases. The Bangalore project is the third most expensive one at an estimated cost of Rs 5,747 crore.

The Chennai project got a fresh lease of life after the DMK returned to power in Tamil Nadu, and decided to have a second look at the project, which was junked by AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa during her term.

In fact, if all these projects get the green signal at the same time, India might also face a shortage of coach suppliers, sources close to the development told Business Standard.

As of now, the Bangalore-based Bharat Earth Movers Ltd, that supplied a substantial chunk of the 60 trains that run on the Delhi network, is the only experienced Metro coach manufacturer in India.

Akshay

Metro rail in Tiruvanthapuram
Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Government would soon get the feasibility report for setting up metro rail in the capital, Transport Minister Mathew T.Thomas has said.

Mr.Thomas said in a written reply to K.Mohammedunni Haji that the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation was entrusted to conduct the study for the metro rail in Thiruvananthapuram.

The road between Housing Board junction and R.M.S.Junction at Thampanoor has not been included in the capital city development project, PWD Minister P.J.Joseph has said.

Mr.Joseph said in a written reply to V.Sivankutty on Monday that the stretches between Oottukuzhy and Vanross junction and Reserve Bank of India and Nandavanam have been included in the project. Land acquisition in these stretches is in the final phase.

Akshay

Metro rail: Vasan to talk to TN Govt

New Delhi, June 30: Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation G K Vasan today said, he would seek a report from the Tamil Nadu Government on the Chennai Metro Rail project so that work on the network could start soon after clearance from the Centre.

Visiting the Delhi Metro, the minister examined various initiatives taken by the DMRC to set up the Rail network in various parts of India, including Chennai.

The two corridors being planned for Chennai Metro are Thiruvottiyur to Meenabakkam Airport along the Mint Street-Anna Salai area and Madras beach to Koyambedu via Poonamally High Road.

The DMRC has already completed the detailed project report for the Metro in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

Vasan also travelled on the Metro from Central Secretariat to Karol Bagh, Kashmere Gate and Shastri Park and visited the Operational Control Centre. (Agencies)

Akshay

DMRC planning to increase frequency of trains
Staff Reporter

Particularly during office hours to clear the extra rush at stations

NEW DELHI: In the wake of increased passenger traffic in all its three lines during the past few months, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation is planning to increase the frequency of its trains, particularly during office hours, so that extra rush at stations could be cleared easily.

"At present, our trains run at a frequency of around four to five minutes. But now keeping in mind the growing demand from passengers, we are looking at the feasibility of increasing frequency of our trains. We are also studying various other measures to meet growing passenger traffic at our stations," informed DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal.

Asked when the new trains would be introduced in the system, Mr. Dayal said DMRC has already placed orders to get 10 new trains that would take the total number of trains to 70. "However, the trains will reach Delhi only by January next year, as its parts will first be brought from Korea to Bangalore, where it would be assembled at the Bharat Earth Movers Limited's plant before being introduced in our system," he added.

Informing that the passenger traffic has increased from 4.5 lakhs to 4.75 lakhs during the past two months, Mr. Dayal said peak time passenger traffic was increasing every day, particularly in the Barakhamba-Dwarka line.

But DMRC is also taking other measures to clear passenger rush from its stations that includes adding new escalators and lifts.

It has already added more escalators at a couple of stations, while new escalators are being installed at five stations that will start functioning within a month.

Two new escalators have become operational at the Central Secretariat station, one at the entry from Boat Club and another at Red Cross entry. Similarly, two new elevators, with each costing around Rs.75 lakhs, have started functioning at Chawri Bazar station on underground section between Central Secretariat and Delhi University, he added.

According to Mr. Dayal, work on installing four new escalators has already begun at Uttam Nagar (West), Janakpuri (West), Tagore Garden and Karol Bagh on the Barakhamba-Dwarka line that would take at least a month to become operational.

Similarly, three more escalators have become operational at the busiest Delhi Metro station -- Rajiv Chowk (Connaught Place) -- besides a new entry have been opened near Palika Bazar at the same station.

Akshay

Cities have to reinvent to stay ahead: PM
Our Bureau / Chennai/ Bangalore June 26, 2006

Expressing concern over cities sliding up and down the rankings on many parameters in the extremely competitive and dynamic world, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cautioned the state administrations, including Karnataka, against laxity in developing basic infrastructure to propel growth.

“You need to invest with sight on the needs two decades from now. You need to keep the cost of living, working and doing business low in cities to continue to keep them attractive as a world class investment destinations. Every other city in India has Bangalore in its sights and in the absence of determined, positive steps, there is no guarantee that the future will be a continuation of the past success of this city. I want everyone to keep this in mind,” he said after launching Metro Rail and elevated road projects in Bangalore on Saturday.

He noted that the most advanced states during the British rule are no longer perceived as being so. “The most advanced agricultural states need to become industrial states if they have to keep ahead. Cities like Bangalore will need to keep reinventing themselves for the future if they have to maintain their present lead,” he added.

Pointing out that cities have to become more liveable and people-friendly, he stated: “We have to take steps to enable people to commute easily, thus decongesting the city centre. All this is possible only with a rapid public transport, which has to be the focus of our urban transport policies for years to come.”

Singh said that public transport is a national priority as excessive dependence on private transport in cities cannot be afforded.

“An efficient and well-functioning public transport system has the advantages of cost, energy conservation and environmental conservation. As I have said so often, our cities cannot continue to develop haphazardly,” he stated.

The PM stressed the need for new investment in world-class public infrastructure to make cities more user-friendly and liveable.

“We have to improve the quality of living in cities and make it more liveable. We have to invest on public transport, on roads with space for bicycles and pedestrians, on sanitation, on public parks, on water bodies, on airports, on railway stations, and many other amenities of modern life,” he noted.

He asked Karnataka to prepare futuristic plans and take advantage of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) ensuring that the quality of life in cities improve.

Further, Singh stressed the need for an inclusive growth process to build a prosperous and equitable nation.

“We want both our urban areas and rural areas to develop. We want to build an India in which scientists and engineers, farmers and workers, artists and entrepreneurs can all find the space to express their creativity and enterprise”.

Akshay

Rail systems may bring some respite to harried commuters

Govind D. Belgaumkar

The city's proposed mass rapid system is set to tread a different path
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* BMRC likely to be entrusted with supervision of Mono Rail
* Government sees Mono Rail and Metro Rail as being complementary to one another
* Metro Rail will be inaugurated on June 24
* It is being taken up at a cost of Rs. 6,300 crore
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BANGALORE: With both the Metro Rail and Mono Rail systems on the city's agenda, the harried Bangaloreans might just find some respite from the endless transportation woes. The endless traffic jams, a common sight today, might just get less chaotic.

That Bangalore needs a mass rapid transport system has never been lost sight of. After toying with ELRTS (Elevated Light Rail Transport System) for several years, the city has come around to choose Metro Rail.

Inspired in many respects by Delhi's Metro Rail, Bangalore's proposed mass rapid system is set to tread a different path, if the thinking of the Government holds ground. It will have feeder Mono Rail network — to begin with from Kanakapura Road to the city centre.

The Government is said to be keen on entrusting the supervision of the implementation of the Mono Rail system to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRC), thereby ensuring that the two systems go hand in hand in bringing relief to the traffic-hit city.

Not long ago, the promoters of Mono Rail and Metro Rail were at loggerheads as they saw one another as competitors.

That is no longer the case. With the Government seeing them as complementary to one another, there is talk of providing inter-change stations where people can change from one system to another.

A complete picture of how the city's traffic landscape will look like is expected to emerge within the next few months.

The city, whose population doubled in the last two decades and where the number of vehicles has grown over eight times, has long realised what it needs. (Bangalore had 3.3 lakh vehicles in 1986 and official estimates suggest that the number crossed 26.5 lakh at the end of May this year.

Driving speed has also come down to 10 km to 12 km an hour (so says Japan Bank for International Cooperation) in the city.

According to the BMRC, Metro Rail will transport over 10.7 lakh people a day when it becomes operational. It is planning to build a 33-km rail network in five years.

The project will be inaugurated on June 24. Metro Rail is being taken up at a cost of Rs. 6,300 crore.

Metrail India Pvt. Ltd. (MIPL), one of the promoters of monorail, has claimed that it can transport 15,000 people per hour in each direction over two alignments — north-south and east-west. It offers to put the Mono Rail on track in 15 months, without the Government investing any money. But Geodesic Techniques Pvt. Ltd., consultants for MIPL's competitor, Hitachi, says it is not viable for any private player to invest fully in a monorail system, without charging its commuters heavily. It will become unaffordable for most Bangaloreans, its spokesperson suggests.

As far as Metro Rail is concerned, it will have 33 stations in two alignments. The BMRC is acquiring 621 pieces of property for laying the tracks and building stations.

This includes 150 pieces of property on Kuvempu Road and 55 on CMH Road. The BMRC has promised an attractive rehabilitation package but is yet to announce it. Traders on CMH Road have sought that the alignment of the tracks should be changed so that the road is spared.

It could go along Old Madras Road, they have suggested.


Preliminary work being carried out for Metro Rail in Bangalore.

Akshay

News report on Hyderabad Metro


Metro rail to chug by 2009

HYDERABAD: City's first metro rail will operate from January 2009. The works of the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) will begin from December 2006 and all the three proposed corridors will be opened for the public by the end of December 2010.

A meeting of the six consortia of the MRTS and the government officials was held on Friday to discuss the project.

Speaking to the media, municipal administration and urban development secretary S P Singh and MCH additional commissioner (traffic and transportation) N V S Reddy said the total project cost has been calculated to be Rs 7,986 crore including taxes, which comes around Rs 1,300 crore.

"Of the total project cost, about 35 per cent will be shared by both the Centre and the state government. While the Centre will bear 20 per cent to 25 per cent, the state government will bear 10 per cent to 15 per cent," said S P Singh.

The Centre would give its share in the form of cash during the different phases of the project while the state government would provide the land.

The Build Operate and Transfer (BOT) developers, who will invest 65 per cent in the project, will be permitted to operate trains and collect revenue on tickets and through advertisements for 35 years and later the entire project would be handed over to the state government.

Singh said it was not yet decided whether to give all the three corridors to one consortium or more. But the developers have been vying for multiple consortia to complete the project without any delay, the secretary said.

Meanwhile, the state government has decided to float the Hyderabad Metro Rail Corporation to coordinate among the developers. The corporation would be functional from the second week of August.

Additional commissioner N V S Reddy said the process of identification and earmarking of government land for stations, depots and workshops has already begun and it would be finalised by July 2006.

The BOT developers, who were prequalified for the bids, will have to prepare both the technical and the financial bid documents and submit them to the state government by September 15, 2006. Bids would be finalised by the end of November 2006, he said.