Railways Projects Major Developments done in the Month of February 2013

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved laying of Patna-Gaya-Dobhi section in Bihar with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) - ODA Loan Assistance. The CCEA approved implementation of four laning of Patna-Gaya-Dobhi section on NH-83 in Bihar. The 127.20 km project is estimated to cost Rs 2,015.60 crore which includes cost of civil construction, supervision works, land acquisition, rehabilitation and pre-construction activities. The project will be completed within three years after signing of the contract agreement. The Japanese Government will likely to fund the same through JICA loan, as the project will connect Patna-Gaya-Dobhi as a part of the Buddhist Circuit.

The Central Government has decided to accord immediate approval to the Pune metro project and make subsequent allocation of funds in the budget. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has also been asked to set up an SPV for executing the metro project and to work with the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Work on the project is likely to start by July 2013. Once the budgetary provision is made, the state and the PMC will contribute their share in the project. It was also stressed that a deadline be set for completion of the project. The PMC has also been told to prepare a DPR on a mono rail project. There are plans for integration of metro, mono rail and BRTS project in the city.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) is planning to develop a subway just before the Dabri Mor circle on the left side of Pankha Road. The DMRC will construct an underground subway across the busy Pankha road in West Delhi to connect its Dabri Mor Metro station on the upcoming Janakpuri West - Botanical Garden corridor with the localities on the other side of the road. This subway will be about 75 mtrs long and will have a breadth of seven mtrs with height of about 3.5 mtrs. It will connect the station with localities such as Sitapuri, Dabri Mor Police Station and Sagarpur on the other side of Pankha Road. Meanwhile, DMRC has finally decided to implement the Kochi Metro Rail project in Kerala. The Rs 5,100 crore project will be implemented with E. Sreedharan as its chief consultant. The DMRC will be working on cost-plus basis (cost plus mutually agreed fee) and it will also assist KMRL in building up its organisational capacity for executing metro works and effectively undertaking operation and maintenance. The detailed agreement will be signed between KMRL and DMRC incorporating mutually agreed clauses for ensuring accountability of DMRC in terms of quality, safety and performance as well as KMRL’s technical and financial oversight over execution at all stages of the project.

The Haryana Government will sign an agreement with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) soon for extension of Delhi Metro from Mundka to Bahadurgarh in Haryana. The project is expected to cost Rs 1,991 crore, of which Haryana Government’s share will be Rs 787.96 crore. The extension of the Delhi Metro has already been received approval form the state cabinet in July 2012. After signing the agreement the companies will enable the Delhi Metro to start construction of the project till Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district of Haryana.

L&T Metro has raised funds to bring the intra-city rail networking project at Hyderabad back on track. The project was delayed by close to two years. The company has raised Rs 500 crore as a short-term debt recently, while it has already pumped in around Rs 600 crore so far in the project. The company has raised the funds from Yes Bank as a bridge loan. Of which it had already taken Rs 300 crore. This is beyond financial closure which the company has achieved with a consortium of banks. Soon, the company will finalise orders for automatic fare collection system and elevators as technical negotiations are already done. The three rail lines project is expected to be commissioned in 2018.

L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad has commenced construction of its first metro station at Uppal in Hyderabad. The station is expected to be completed by December 2013. Work on pillars and erection of girder will go simultaneously on various stretches of the metro rail is going on. The company will construct 66 stations on a single pillar with 140 mtrs of length and 20 mtrs of width. This includes 27 stations on Corridor I from L B Nagar to Miyapur, 16 on Corridor II from JBS to Falaknuma and 23 on Corridor III from Nagole to Shilparamam. The first level will have ticket counters, the second will have platforms. All stations will be provided with staircases, escalators and lifts.

Work on the monorail network in Delhi is expected to start in the next couple of months. The DPR has been reviewed and approved by the DMRC which will implement the 11-km corridor in east Delhi. The monorail corridor from Shastri Park Metro Station to Trilokpuri will have 12 stations and three inter-change points at Shastri Park, Nirman Vihar and Trilokpuri thereby providing connectivity with the existing Dilshad Garden-Rithala line, Anand Vihar-Dwarka and the proposed Mukundpur-Yamuna Vihar under Phase-III of Metro. The project which is estimated to cost Rs 2,235 crore is expected to be commissioned in 2017. The 12 stations on the line include Shastri Park, Kailash Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Taj Enclave, Geeta Colony, Guru Angad Nagar, Scope Tower, Ganesh Nagar, Mother Dairy, Patparganj, Kotla and Trilokpuri.

Companies like L&T IDPL, Gammon Infra, IL&FS Transportation, GMR Infra and CAF South Africa are in race for developing elevated rail corridor in Mumbai from Churchgate to Virar. The 60-km stretch of Mumbai elevated rail corridor, from Oval Maidan/Churchgate to Virar is estimated to cost Rs 21,147 crore. The PPP project will also be a test project for the Railways. The corridor will include underground (18 km), elevated (33.5 km) and at-grade tracks (8.7 km) with 27 stations and a maintenance depot. The successful bidder will build the line, operate it and do fare fixation and collection, while the Railways and the state government will provide the land. The Railways are expected to close the first round by end-March 2013, when the bidders will submit Requests for Qualification (RFQs).

Orissa Government has envisioned a futuristic plan for setting up a monorail transit system in the twin cities of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar. The proposal to set up the facility has already been given by Engineering Projects India. The construction of monorail facility will come up with an investment of Rs 150 crore per km. The Housing and Urban Development Department will conduct a pre-feasibility study of the proposed project. The department has also been asked to work out the viability of the projects, running expenditure per km.

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The Chhattisgarh Government has signed an MoU with IRCON and South Eastern Coalfields for construction of about 300 km of rail network. The MoU envisages the development two rail corridors in the state. The rail corridors project will be implemented in JV model in which IRCON, a subsidiary of Railways, will hold 26 per cent equity and the balance will be held by the state government and SECL. The project — East Corridor and East-West Corridor — will come up at an estimated cost of Rs 4,000 crore. While East Corridor will be about 180 km from Bhupdevpur—Gharghoda—Dharamjaygarh up to Korba, the 112-km long East-West Corridor will be from Gevra Road to Pendra Road.

L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail is planning to take up transit-oriented real estate development in a phased manner. The SPV will take up development of 18.5 million sq ft. It has completed a feasibility study of the real estate component along the proposed 72-km rail network. The company is implementing Rs. 16,500-crore elevated metro rail project across three corridors in Hyderabad and Secunderabad. The state government has decided to allot 269 acre for the metro project, including two land parcels of about 100 acre at the terminal points.

Sonia Gandhi, Congress President on 7 November 2012 flagged off the first set of coaches from the modern rail coach manufacturing factory at Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh. Foundation stone for the Rs 1,685-crore for the Railway Coach Factory (RCF) was laid in January 2009. The Railways had acquired 541 ha for the factory, of which 283 ha belonged to private land owners. Once fully functional, 1,000 coaches are expected to be rolled out annually. These coaches would have higher carrying capacity and provides more comfort to passenger. Apart from resistance to corrosion, the coaches will be equipped with modular fittings, microprocessor controlled air-conditioning and environment-friendly controlled discharge toilet system.

Kochi Metro Rail requires additional land

Image source: KOMET

Kochi Metro Rail requires a total of 40.409 ha, including parking space for the proposed metro rail project in Kochi, Kerala. The stations of Kalamassery, Edappally and Kaloor other than two terminal stations, namely Aluva and Petta (Thripunithura) stations will get the additional land.  The total land required for all the 22 stations is 9.3941 ha, including minimum parking in 21 stations. For the additional parking 2.7869 ha will be used. The depot at Muttom meant for maintenance and repairing of rolling stock requires 23.605 ha.

DFCCIL has signed a loan agreement with JICA for its western corridor

Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India (DFCCIL) has signed a loan agreement with Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for its western corridor. The pact was signed for the project appraisal for the two routes comprising Vadodara to Jawaharlal Nehru Port (JNPT) and Rewari to Dadri in the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor. The proposed funding is under Special Terms of Economic Participation (STEP) between Japan and India. The value of the proposed loan is JPY 295 billion (approx Rs.20,000 crore), which is a soft loan with the repayment period of 40 years. The Western DFC of 1,499 km will be from JNPT in Mumbai to Tughlakbad and Dadri near Delhi and cater to the container transport requirement between the existing and emerging ports in western India and northern hinterland. As far as land acquisition for the Western DFC is concerned, out of total 3,608 ha required in Phase I, 3,186 ha has been acquired. For the Phase II, out of total 2,252 ha required, 1,041 ha have been acquired. Remaining land is expected to be acquired during the current financial year FY13. The Japan Government will offer loan for the Phase II of Dedicated Freight Corridor and an infrastructure project in South India.

The Indian Railways will now take control of the East-West Metro Corridor project in Kolkata. The Railways will own 74 per cent stake in the project, while the Urban Development Ministry will hold the remaining 26 per cent. With this, the West Bengal Government will exit the project. The proposal of initiating the share transfer from the state government to the Railways has already been approved by the Cabinet. Earlier, the corporation was equally owned by the Urban Development Ministry and state government. The Rs.4,874-crore project is already running one year behind its completion schedule of 2014-15. The metro corridor will connect the IT city Salt Lake with the western fringes. Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC), a JV company formed by the Urban Development Ministry and West Bengal Government, was in charge of executing the project. This apart, Indian Railways is all set to begin work on the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project connecting Punjab with West Bengal and UP with Maharashtra. The Rs.80,000-crore Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) project will come into two phases. In Phase I, DFCCIL will be constructing two corridors — the Western DFC and Eastern DFC — spanning a total length of about 3,300 km. The Eastern Corridor, starting from Ludhiana in Punjab, will pass through the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and terminate at Dankuni in West Bengal. The Western Corridor will traverse the distance from Dadri to Mumbai, passing through the states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. Around 80 per cent of the land required for the project has been acquired. Soon, tenders for laying of the first 1,000 km of tracks (worth around Rs. 10,000 crore) of the 3,300 km project would be awarded in FY13. The deadline for the project is 2016-17.

Rail Board seeks developer for Elevated Rail Corridor in Mumbai

Image Source: mumbaimetro.com

During August 2012, a total 2,613 project tenders worth Rs. 42,212 crore were floated. Among the floated tenders, 1,999 tenders worth Rs. 10,187 crore were by various State Government entities, 591 tenders worth Rs. 32,002 crore by the Central Government and balance 23 tenders were by private companies.

Image Source: BusinessLine

The most notable tender was issued by Ministry of Railway (Railway Board for development of elevated rail corridor. On 08 August 2012, the board invited RFQs for development of 63 km long, mostly elevated (partially underground/at grade) rail corridor between Oval Maidan-Churchgate-Virar of Western Railway in Mumbai Area. The project will be implemented through PPP on DBFOT basis. The cost of this project is estimated at Rs. 21,000 crore.

Railways projects developments

The Central Government has given in-principle approval for preparing the DPR to introduce metro rail services in Bhopal and Indore in Madhya Pradesh.

The DPR is likely to be ready by May 2013. The Centre and the state will bear its cost in the ratio of 50:50. The Urban Administration and Development Department of the state will float a tender to select a company for preparing the DPR for the two cities. The length of the metro rail track in Bhopal is 28.5 km and for Indore it will be about 33 km. The Bhopal metro rail project is estimated to cost Rs. 6,000 crore while Indore project will cost about Rs. 7,500 crore. The feasibility survey for the two projects was done by DMRC.

The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) may extend financial assistance upto Rs. 700 crore for the construction of the Kochi Metro project in Kerala. Currently, HUDCO is studying a proposal in this regards. The Kochi metro project is expected to cost over Rs. 5,000 crore and would have 22 metro stations. Earlier, HUDCO had provided Rs. 700 crore to Bangalore Metro and also accorded ‘in principle’ approval to the funding of Jaipur Metro. Also, it is looking at getting equity in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor.

The Kerala Government has approved a proposal for setting up Kerala Monorail Corporation, a fully owned company under the government, to implement the monorail projects in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram.

With this approval, the state Cabinet has taken the monorail projects out of the control of the Transport Department and handed it over to the Public Works Department (PWD). Thus, Kerala Monorail Corporation, a SPV, will implement the two monorail projects under the overall control of the PWD. The SPV to be headed by the Chief Minister will take up the monorail project in the capital once the DPR is submitted by the DMRC. Kerala Monorail Corporation’s first project will be the 14.5-km elevated rail-based mass rapid transit system (MRTS) from Kozhikode Medical College to Meenchantha in the city. The next in line will be the 41.8-km monorail project from Mangalapuram to Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram. The 22.2-km Phase I from Mangalapuram to Thampanoor is expected to cost Rs. 2,775 crore while the Phase II of 19.6 km from Thampanoor to Neyyattinkara will cost Rs. 2,324 crore.

The Maharashtra Government on 4 October 2012 accorded approval to the Rs. 900-crore Konkan railway project. The proposed project will connect to all the important ports in the state. While the state government will invest Rs. 450 crore, the remaining Rs. 450 crore will be allocated by the Central Government. The state government will rope in private companies associated with the port development authority to raise the equity to fund the project. The Central Government has begun the process of conducting survey to outline the details and feasibility of the project. This apart, Narayan Rane, State industries minister has sought Rs. 250 crore for a terminal in village Madure in Sawantwadi. Currently, land acquisition is underway and the project is expected to be completed by 2014. Also, in the pipeline is the Rs. 1,200 crore Kolhapur-Vaibhavwadi railway link project. However, details of the project are yet to be worked out.