New avenues of transport

Urban infrastructure development in India has taken a faster pace in the recent past with a slew of projects getting operational while some are under implementation. Mumbai has led the way in providing some impetus to urban infrastructure projects this year-having commissioned the much delayed monorail, Terminal 2 of the airport and an important approach to the airport from the highway. As the first phase of Mumbai Metro Phase-1 hopes to be operational this month, we look at some of these recent projects…

Mumbai Monorail

The first phase of 20 km long Mumbai Monorail corridor has commenced operations between Chembur in the eastern suburbs of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and Wadala, on the outskirts of the city, at a cost of Rs 1,100 crore. The work on the Rs 1,900-crore second phase, stretching till Jacob Circle, near Byculla in south Mumbai, is still going on and is expected to be over by March 2015.

The decision to introduce Chembur-Wadala-Sant Gadge Maharaj Chowk Monorail corridor, as a feeder service to the other transit system and to cater crowded and narrow congested areas was taken by the Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) on 28 September 2007.

Through global bidding process consortium of L&T and Scomi Engineering were appointed as contractors for implementation.

Challenges: The project has been fraught with delays, and the first phase has commenced operations after a delay of two years. The presence of unforeseen underground utilities, difficulties in land acquisition, rehabilitation of project affected people and environ¡ment clearances were the major challenges faced by the project.

Project Features

• Length of Corridor:
• Phase I (Wadala-Chembur): 8.93 km
• Project cost excluding taxes: Rs 2,460 crore
• Date of commencement: 14 November 2008
• Design headway: 3 minute
• Train composition: 4 cars
• Passenger capacity: 562 max passengers
• Design speed: 80 kmph
• Scheduled speed: 31 kmph
• Operation hours: 05.00 hr to 24 hr
• No of stations: 17

Source: MMRDA

Surat BRTS

Surat BRTS has been operational since 26 January 2014. BRTS for Surat is a multifaceted project which inte¡grates land use and transport, various forms of public trans¡port services as well as other motorised and non-motorised modes through various physical, operational and policy interventions to achieve the objective of making Surat an accessible and competitive city. Given this multi-dimensional nature of the project, anticipated impacts are numerous and some measurable and some qualitative. Phase-1 comprises 29.7 km and Phase-2 58 km.

Major project components

• Surat-Navsari road: 10.20 km
• Dumas Resort-Sarthana Jakaatnaka (via canal road) road: 19.7 km
• Bridges Flyover & ROB: 2×4 lane
• Pedestrian subways: 5
• Bus stops: 33
• Terminals & depots: 3
• Interchanges & stations: 5 ITS application
• Total project cost: Rs 469.02 crore

Source: SMC

Mumbai International Airport Terminal 2

GVKÆs new integrated state-of-the-art Terminal 2 (T2) at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) opened to public on 12 February 2014. GVK has built the new terminal as an iconic mega structure (measuring 4.4 million sq ft) that will set global benchmarks in airport infrastructure development. Featuring a highly compact design by New York-based Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), T2 has the ability to handle 40 million passengers annually. Traversing across four levels, the vertical and compact design of T2 integrating all operations (international, domestic, cargo, ground handling, security, retail, etc) under one roof enables enhanced passenger servicing and operational efficiency of CSIA.

Challenges: This project was mother of all challenges. Land availability was a major hurdle with the available land already occupied. Evacuation of the occupied land, removing the existing structure and constructing new facilities step-by-step was a daunting task. Another mammoth task was building the new terminal without affecting the normal functioning of the airport.

T2 Highlights

• Spans across 4.4 m sq ft area
• Dedicated 6-lane, 3.2 km elevated expressway shortening travel time to T2 from Western Express Highway
• 208 check-in counters as well as 23 domestic and 30 international security pedestals
• 60 emigration counters on departure and 72 immigration counters on arrivals
• 52 boarding bridges
• 10,900 seating capacity, 102 toilets, 161 elevators, escalators, travellators.
• Retail footprint of 200,000 sq ft
• Lounges, 1 day hotel, 1 transit hotel
• 10 baggage carrousels, expandable to 14
• Automated baggage system handling 9,600 bags per hr
• 90 per cent passengers can be served by aerobridges

Source: MIAL

Mumbai Metro One

The Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar Corridor Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) project was awarded by MMRDA through a global competitive bidding process on public-private partnership (PPP) framework to RInfra led consortium in 2007. This was the first metro project awarded in the country on a PPP basis and entails design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of about 12 km elevated metro with 12 stations en route. The Metro is scheduled to be operational this month.

Challenges: The project had faced multiple challenges viz delayed availability of constructible RoW; operational challenges in carrying out the construction of various structures; need of special permission from railway authorities for execution of sub-structure works between operating railway tracks during the monsoons; and dealy in availability of land for depot.

Project details

• Total project cost: Rs 2,356 crore
• Project started in 2007
• Cost overrun: Rs 4,321 crore

Gurgaon Metro

The Gurgaon Metro, known as Rapid Metro, is IndiaÆs first fully privately financed and owned metro. Rapid Metro is a fully elevated rapid transit system being developed for the commuters and citizen of Gurgaon, Haryana. This system will provide a transport solution for areas in and around Cyber City, DLF Phase 2, DLF Phase 3 and NH-8, providing connectivity to Delhi Metro at Sikanderpur.

All funds, equity and debt, were arranged by the IL&FS Group. All shares of the SPV are also owned by IL&FS Group companies. The project was awarded by the Government of Haryana via a 99 year concession.

BRTS major project components

• Projected cost: Rs 1,088 crore
• Concession period: 99 years
• Fare: Flat fare of Rs 12 Elevated network
• Delhi Metro Smart Cards & Tokens applicable
• Trial run commenced: On 2 October 2012
• First phase opened: On 14 November 2013