Mass Rapid Transit in India

Viv S · Post by **Viv S** » 15 Sep 2015 12:16

prashanth wrote:In a fixed match though . Wish GOI extended funds and largesse to other cities as well.

Not really. Delhi's real advantage is that it doesn't have an rural/agricultural state to support. Revenues from prosperous Mumbai/Chennai, in contrast, are also used to support the rest of Maharashtra/Tamil Nadu.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 15 Sep 2015 15:47

http://bangalore.citizenmatters.in/arti ... -bangalore

the demand for these services like koramangala-ITPL shows the blr metro authority & political overlords wilfilly ignored studying the real demand from office goers in phase1 and phase2. instead they are busy building lines to far off places in the west like neelamangala whose textile factory workers will probably not be willing to pay the metro or bmtc volvo bus fees.

i guess the idea is to keep it weak and bankrupt like AI and live on bailout money year to year

phase1 itself should have been jayanagar-BTM-silk board-electronic city and jayanagar-BTM-silk board-koramangala-HSR-bellandur-marathalli-kundanahalli-ITPL-hope farm-old madras road. these would have been highly commercially viable routes. going underground under old airport road from koramangala-domlur-marathalli also...not in old madras road!

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 15 Sep 2015 16:52

Are there no plans for local manufacture of these trains and rakes.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 15 Sep 2015 17:09

Why don't we ask them to set up plants in India, give ToT and carry on licensed production. Railways used to do it a lot. It seems now a days ToT is only insisted for purchase of Off the shelf top of the line fighter jets. not for other items.

member_29172 · Post by **member_29172** » 15 Sep 2015 17:59

Except we do, majority of metro trains are produced in BEL or by Reliance iirc. Unless it's a completely new design, usually we import 30 % of the cars while manufacturing 70%. Personally it's not big of a deal, we get new designs and they get customers which they usually won't in oversaturated markets of Europe or east Asia. North America rarely starts new lines and even if they do they typically import japanese trains ( Canada's GO trains are japanese iirc). Ofcourse bombardier is canadian so that must help

prashanth · Post by **prashanth** » 15 Sep 2015 18:03

Singha wrote:phase1 itself should have been jayanagar-BTM-silk board-electronic city and jayanagar-BTM-silk board-koramangala-HSR-bellandur-marathalli-kundanahalli-ITPL-hope farm-old madras road. these would have been highly commercially viable routes. going underground under old airport road from koramangala-domlur-marathalli also...not in old madras road!

Saar, to be fair to BMRC, they used the DPR prepared by DMRC in 2002 when they started construction in 2007. In 2002, traffic in HSR-bellandur-marathalli-kundanahalli-ITPL corridor was a fraction of what it is today. Hosur road and ORR were used for 'speed tests' in those days. But, phase 2 covers Kundalahalli, ITPL, Whitefield, Elec city, Silk board junction etc, which are overcrowded at present. See the image below.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ne_Map.png

instead they are busy building lines to far off places in the west like neelamangala whose textile factory workers will probably not be willing to pay the metro or bmtc volvo bus fees.

Nelamangala is en-route to Tumkur, and I don't see any metro line planned there, in the map above.

Kashi wrote:Are there no plans for local manufacture of these trains and rakes.

Sure there are. BEML manufactures Hyundai-ROTEM coaches, Bombardier has factory in Vadodara, Alstom in AP...

Supratik · Post by **Supratik** » 15 Sep 2015 18:32

If they can get the RRTS constructed (200 kmph) then NCR is going to expand by at least 200 kms on all sides. However, there has been no movement on the RRTS after the NDA came to power.

chaanakya · Post by **chaanakya** » 15 Sep 2015 19:37

Alka_P wrote:Except we do, majority of metro trains are produced in BEL or by Reliance iirc. Unless it's a completely new design, usually we import 30 % of the cars while manufacturing 70%. Personally it's not big of a deal, we get new designs and they get customers which they usually won't in oversaturated markets of Europe or east Asia. North America rarely starts new lines and even if they do they typically import japanese trains ( Canada's GO trains are japanese iirc). Ofcourse bombardier is canadian so that must help

Ok , thanks for pointers.

Bade · Post by **Bade** » 15 Sep 2015 20:35

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ne_Map.png

A whole segment along ORR is missing from the plans.

member_29172 · Post by **member_29172** » 15 Sep 2015 20:57

Supratik wrote:If they can get the RRTS constructed (200 kmph) then NCR is going to expand by at least 200 kms on all sides. However, there has been no movement on the RRTS after the NDA came to power.

I am a regular on SSCI and still never heard of RRTS, guess it's a dead or dying project. Will definitely check it out.

arshyam · Post by **arshyam** » 15 Sep 2015 21:00

chaanakya wrote:Why don't we ask them to set up plants in India, give ToT and carry on licensed production. Railways used to do it a lot. It seems now a days ToT is only insisted for purchase of Off the shelf top of the line fighter jets. not for other items.

Saar, it was discussed earlier on this thread. Pliss to look here and here.

prashanth · Post by **prashanth** » 15 Sep 2015 21:39

Bade wrote:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ne_Map.png

A whole segment along ORR is missing from the plans.

Yes, that is included in phase 3. Pls, follow the link below.

http://bmrc.co.in/pdf/news/Phase2A3.pdf

Ideally, they should have connected the airport in phase 2 itself, but they were short of funds.

Rohit_K · Post by **Rohit_K** » 17 Sep 2015 05:18

Delhi Metro's contractor (ITD Cem) has completed tunneling 6 tunnels between Palam and Shankar Vihar stations.

With this news, the Magenta line's tunnels between Janakpuri west to Shankar Vihar are now complete:

Original post with info, pics & maps at The Metro Rail Guy

Rohit_K · Post by **Rohit_K** » 17 Sep 2015 07:04

Video of last month's TBM Breakthrough at Delhi's Lal Qila station:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKOF8jpacwo

durairaaj · Post by **durairaaj** » 17 Sep 2015 08:44

I am really happy to see this thread being active, almost on par with the indian economy thread. I always wished India to invest in public transit and do away with the wasteful expenditure on building highly polluting motorways. The increased activity of this thread reflects the importance the govt. attribute to the efficient (both time and energy) movement of men. I wish the same happens to DFC project. Once we improve the efficiency of transporting men and material along with the capital/currency through digital wallets, I think nothing can stop us from becoming the world suber pawa.

member_20067 · Post by **member_20067** » 17 Sep 2015 19:52

Viv S wrote:

is this economical? How many coaches can be transported in one sortie? Should not ship based transport to nearest port and then road transport be more economical? or even special rail coaches?

Got my answer--- it seems this was one of the earlier picture -- as now Bombardier Movia rolling stocks are manufactured in Vadodara, Gujrat...

http://www.bombardier.com/en/media-cent ... ercom.html

Rail technology leader Bombardier Transportation has won a contract to supply 162 BOMBARDIER MOVIA metro cars to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (DMRC). The new trains will increase the number of DMRC’s existing fleet of MOVIA metros from 614 to 776 and make it one of the largest metro fleets in the world. The order is valued at approximately 15 billion INR (204 million euro, 228 million US), and delivery will begin in the third quarter of 2016 and is expected to end in early 2018.

Harsh Dhingra, Chief Country Representative, India, Bombardier Transportation said, “We are pleased to have received this new order for another 162 MOVIA vehicles for New Delhi. It is an excellent endorsement of our growing relationship with Delhi Metro who has already awarded us around $1.2 billion USD worth of rolling stock and signalling contracts. These additional trains will be delivered from our state-of-the-art manufacturing sites in Vadodara.”

The modern, high-capacity MOVIA metro vehicles integrate some of the world's most advanced mobility technologies such as the BOMBARDIER MITRAC propulsion and control system and the BOMBARDIER FLEXX Metro 3000 bogies, an extremely robust and reliable design specifically adapted to suit Delhi’s existing infrastructure. In its six-car configuration, these new vehicles will accommodate 1740 passengers and once configured into eight-car sets, will carry as many as 2,400 passengers providing a much needed capacity increase on two of Delhi’s main metro lines.

The high degree of localisation executed in the project at both Savli and Maneja sites is in line with the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign that encourages local manufacturing. Bombardier is also Delhi Metro’s largest signalling solutions contractor with over 120 km of line in operation or in progress for Delhi Metro’s Line 5, 6 and 7.

After more than five decades of investing in India, Bombardier Transportation employs around 1,100 people in India. It operates a railway vehicle manufacturing site and bogie assembly hall at Savli near Vadodara, Gujarat. This is in addition to a propulsion systems manufacturing facility at Maneja, a Rail Control Solutions centre near Gurgaon, Delhi NCR and an engineering centre in Hyderabad that serves key projects worldwide.

Rohit_K · Post by **Rohit_K** » 18 Sep 2015 06:33

In Nagpur, the NMRC & NHAI have finalized the design for a double decker viaduct just like the one in Jaipur (see pic)

Metro will run 4-storey high over new Wardha Road flyover

Nagpur: The Nagpur Metro Rail Corporation Limited (NMRCL) and National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) have reached an understanding on design of portion where metro line and NHAI flyover will be overlapping. The result will be visually stunning structure that would see trains running on second level at a heigh of over 40 feet (as high as a 4-storey building) with road on ground and first. Above that, at about 75 feet, or an 8-storey structure, will be a foot over bridges. The common portion on first stage of North-South corridor of metro runs from Ajni square to Airport T-point. This 3.41km stretch will have three metro stations.

Source: TOI

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2015 07:04

deccan herald - living from one handout to another.

French development agency to loan 200 mn pounds for Metro Phase II
Bengaluru: Sep 17, 2015, dhns
Image for representation

The French development agency, Agence Francaise De Development (AFD), has come forward to fund the Metro Phase II project. The French agency is willing to provide a loan of 200 million Euros to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).

The State government will sign a formal agreement on Friday in this regard with the AFD which has agreed to offer this loan at a low interest rate.

The AFD was also involved in funding the construction of Phase-I of Namma Metro with a long-term credit facility of 110 million Euros, an agreement for which was signed in 2013.

The BMRCL was looking for funds for its Phase II project in Bengaluru after the Japanese funding agency JICA had expressed its reluctance to continue funding the Metro project due to its slow progress.

According to the BMRCL officials, the loan to be provided by the AFD will be utilised for Phase II, which will be the extension of all four existing reaches of Namma Metro and laying of two new lines.

The extension in Phase II include two East-West lines: Mysore Road to Kengeri and Baiyappanahalli to Whitefield (Reach I extension) and two North-South lines: Puttenahalli to Anjanapura and Hesaraghatta Cross to Bangalore International Exhibition Centre.

It also includes laying of the two new lines between RV Road and Bommasandra (East-West) and from Gottigere to Nagawara (North-South).

Last year, the Japan aid agency, one of the prominent funding agencies for Phase I of the Metro project, had expressed its reluctance in furthering its funding to BMRCL.

JICA’s Deputy Chief Representative Ichiguchi Tomohide, who was in Bengaluru in August, had told Deccan Herald in an exclusive interview that for funding of Phase II, the Phase I should be completed first.

---
and as one can see "anything but ORR" is the motto, when routes like btm-jayanagar-koramangala to whitefield and on to manyata tech park would be the most viable and urgently needed.

Rohit_K · Post by **Rohit_K** » 18 Sep 2015 07:13

And there's been yet another recent TBM breakthrough in Delhi, this time at Sarojini Nagar station on the Pink line.

More info & pics at the usual place - The Metro Rail Guy

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2015 07:25

the colour coded hats and teamwork remind me of the crews of people working on the deck of a CVN.

USS dilli continues to steam at 35 knots smoothly. the tramp steamer mv bengaluru plies on at a unsteady 8 knots, with its boilers threatening to seize on any day, rudder problems and its captain and XO asleep in the wheelhouse.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 18 Sep 2015 08:21

Young kids all of them, working for modest paychek building India... ..may their tribe increase many fold.
And may those who look down on them develop gall stones and painful urine....

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 18 Sep 2015 09:17

I see the same attitude and camaraderie in a couple of very large construction projects near my house. the young civil engineers and surveyors wear these vests, move around with notebooks, walkie talkies and calculators up and down the huge structures and are dropped by buses in the evening . they work hard in all weather and get their hands dirty. some are women.

JE Menon · Post by **JE Menon** » 18 Sep 2015 10:38

In Kerala, there are all women construction teams I understand... all with saris and hardhats, I kid you not. Saw it somewhere recently.

Picklu · Post by **Picklu** » 18 Sep 2015 19:31

Singha, anything but ORR is because no more real estate exploitation can be done with already astronomical sq ft rate. Hence metro to every jhumri tilaiya outskirts of BLR to feed the RE bubble.

Rohit_K · Post by **Rohit_K** » 18 Sep 2015 20:09

In Mumbai, the airport operator (MIAL) has signed a MoU with MMRC to fund the construction of 3 stations: CSI Domestic, Sahar Road and CSIA Terminal 2 on Line 3 (Colaba - SEEPZ). Construction contract is expected to be given out very soon.

initial design perspectives:

More info, maps & images at The Metro Rail Guy

prashanth · Post by **prashanth** » 18 Sep 2015 20:16

Picklu wrote:Singha, anything but ORR is because no more real estate exploitation can be done with already astronomical sq ft rate. Hence metro to every jhumri tilaiya outskirts of BLR to feed the RE bubble.

prashanth wrote:
Singha wrote:phase1 itself should have been jayanagar-BTM-silk board-electronic city and jayanagar-BTM-silk board-koramangala-HSR-bellandur-marathalli-kundanahalli-ITPL-hope farm-old madras road. these would have been highly commercially viable routes. going underground under old airport road from koramangala-domlur-marathalli also...not in old madras road!
Saar, to be fair to BMRC, they used the DPR prepared by DMRC in 2002 when they started construction in 2007. In 2002, traffic in HSR-bellandur-marathalli-kundanahalli-ITPL corridor was a fraction of what it is today. Hosur road and ORR were used for 'speed tests' in those days. But, phase 2 covers Kundalahalli, ITPL, Whitefield, Elec city, Silk board junction etc, which are overcrowded at present. See the image below.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ne_Map.png

instead they are busy building lines to far off places in the west like neelamangala whose textile factory workers will probably not be willing to pay the metro or bmtc volvo bus fees.
Nelamangala is en-route to Tumkur, and I don't see any metro line planned there, in the map above.

Kashi wrote:Are there no plans for local manufacture of these trains and rakes.
Sure there are. BEML manufactures Hyundai-ROTEM coaches, Bombardier has factory in Vadodara, Alstom in AP...

prashanth wrote:
Bade wrote:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ ... ne_Map.png

A whole segment along ORR is missing from the plans.
Yes, that is included in phase 3. Pls, follow the link below.

http://bmrc.co.in/pdf/news/Phase2A3.pdf

Ideally, they should have connected the airport in phase 2 itself, but they were short of funds.

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 18 Sep 2015 21:48

Singha wrote:deccan herald - living from one handout to another.

French development agency to loan 200 mn pounds for Metro Phase II
Bengaluru: Sep 17, 2015, dhns

and as one can see "anything but ORR" is the motto, when routes like btm-jayanagar-koramangala to whitefield and on to manyata tech park would be the most viable and urgently needed.

How much would one spend monthly in time and petrol to travel along ORR say from JP nagar to RMZ? If you had a metro which covers that distance for similar money, you would park your car and zip along the metro in 15 minutes instead of sitting in your car at that damned junction near sarjapur rd. And b'lore isn't madras. You can walk 5-10 minutes to the metro station from home.

sum · Post by **sum** » 19 Sep 2015 04:28

And if that wasnt enough, this happens right in front of RMZ Ecospace on ORR:
Pothole snuffs out techie's life

A huge pothole on the upper ramp of Devarabeesanahalli flyover, near Marathahalli, proved fatal for a young techie who was riding pillion with her husband on Thursday night.

Stuthi Pandey, 25, and her husband Omprakash, both software professionals with leading IT firms in the City, were returning to their house in Banashankari 1st Stage after celebrating Ganesha Chaturthi at their friend Suarabh Srivatsav’s house in Munnekolala.

Around 9:15 pm, as he was riding on the upper ramp of the flyover opposite Sakra World Hospital, Omprakash could not avoid a huge pothole. As he rode into it and the bike wobbled, Stuthi fell on one side and Omprakash on the other. She suffered internal head injuries and was rushed to Sakra World Hospital.

However, she had died by then due to brain haemorrhage. Omprakash suffered fractured arm and bruises, said the police. The couple are from Satna in Madhya Pradesh.

A friend of the couple, Ashutosh (name changed), who was some 50 metres behind them when the accident occurred, told Deccan Herald: “I did not witness the accident. But after looking at Stuthi’s body it seems that a vehicle had ran over her soon after she fell. There were marks over her abdomen. But we are not exactly sure if a vehicle had run over her or she had a fatal fall.”

The pothole is right in the middle of the road and there was no caution sign around it. The pothole is deep and anyone riding into it is sure of losing balance and falling down.

Tragic and sad state of affairs

ritesh · Post by **ritesh** » 19 Sep 2015 06:45

Sorry to say but why no helmets?

member_29172 · Post by **member_29172** » 19 Sep 2015 09:44

Wearing a helmet could've saved her life, sad to hear. The couple was quite young as well.

Singha · Post by **Singha** » 19 Sep 2015 13:01

90% of people riding bikes and scooters on interior roads do not wear helmets here.

and I think its not mandatory in blr for pillion riders to use helmets - never seen it anywhere but delhi iirc. so she was going to die anyway.

quite a few service roads, underpasses , flyovers have deep subsidence areas or broken areas due to poor quality of foundation layer and patchwork repairs. i know quite a few such death traps near my home, which incidentally is only 1km from this flyover...its right at the entrance of my approach road.

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 19 Sep 2015 15:02

Singha wrote:90% of people riding bikes and scooters on interior roads do not wear helmets here.

and I think its not mandatory in blr for pillion riders to use helmets - never seen it anywhere but delhi iirc. so she was going to die anyway.

Even in Delhi, women are exempt from the helmet rule I believe. Started because some Sikh groups protested against the helmet rule arguing that Sikh women were not permitted to wear headgear of any sort. Consequently they were exempted and then the exemption was extended to all women.

This was a while ago, so my recollection my be sketchy.

Haresh · Post by **Haresh** » 19 Sep 2015 15:48

There have been instances here in the UK/London of people being injured by potholes and poorley maintained roads and of vehicles being damaged.
It normally results in legal action against the Local Authority that is responsible for maintainance.

The result of this is that Local Authorities have set up special teams to fill these holes in.
It is more cost effective than paying punitive compensation.

nandakumar · Post by **nandakumar** » 19 Sep 2015 21:06

In chennai there is a name board on the junction of durgabhai deshmukh road and DGS Dinaran Salai which says that it is the office of the municipal ombudsman. That means there is a mechanism for complaining about lack of civic services?

Viv S · Post by **Viv S** » 19 Sep 2015 22:13

Kashi wrote:Even in Delhi, women are exempt from the helmet rule I believe. Started because some Sikh groups protested against the helmet rule arguing that Sikh women were not permitted to wear headgear of any sort. Consequently they were exempted and then the exemption was extended to all women.

This was a while ago, so my recollection my be sketchy.

There was some uncertainty for a while, but after a clarification from the Transport Dept. only Sikh women have been allowed an exemption.

Women riding pillion on motorbikes must wear helmets, Delhi government rules

Prasad · Post by **Prasad** » 19 Sep 2015 22:59

It should be the other way around. If you dont wear helmets, you don't get to ride two-wheelers. Nobody is stopping from you using other modes of transportation. The a$$-backward legislation and rule-making is just..

vsunder · Post by **vsunder** » 20 Sep 2015 03:06

TBM Godavari of Namma Metro has started to move. This is the TBM with a damaged cutter head. They had to sink a shaft, remove the head assembly and put in a new cutter head. It has been dormant for ages, since July 2014. It tunneled 18m in the last week. Exactly 600 metres left for breakthrough at Majestic.

Rohit_K · Post by **Rohit_K** » 21 Sep 2015 06:47

^^ image of Godavari in the temporary shaft with a new cutter head:

Map showing the location where it got stuck along its way to Majestic:

Source: The Metro Rail Guy

Kashi · Post by **Kashi** » 21 Sep 2015 10:34

Viv S wrote:There was some uncertainty for a while, but after a clarification from the Transport Dept. only Sikh women have been allowed an exemption.

Women riding pillion on motorbikes must wear helmets, Delhi government rules

Thanks for the clarification. That exemption is dumb. I recall the HC judge who turned it down initially remarked something on the lines of "death will not check for the religious and other affiliations of the pillion rider, when it comes calling" (maut kisi ka dharm poochh kar nahin aati).

Yet political compulsions dictated this climbdown.

Karthik S · Post by **Karthik S** » 21 Sep 2015 16:33

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/che ... 359717.ece

A portion of Poonamallee High Road collapsed and formed a crater, trapping a Maruti Suzuki Swift and giving its three occupants a hair-raising experience on Friday.

The incident occurred as a result of underground tunnelling work as part of the Chennai Metro Rail project.
.
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