Metro Work Resumes in Several Indian Cities per COVID-19 Guidelines
• May 17 Update: Added Kolkata
• May 11 Update: Added Delhi
• May 5 Update: Added Chennai
• April 30 Update: Added Kanpur
• April 27 Update: Added Pune
Following the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, and local state governments, contractors across multiple Indian cities have resumed metro construction work that had been suspended nation-wide since March 22 due to COVID-19.
The cities where metro work has resumed include Mumbai, Kochi, Nagpur Bengaluru, Pune, Kanpur, Chennai, Delhi & Kolkata. This list will be updated as construction resumes throughout the country.
Metro operators in these cities have issued a press release or posted on social media indicating they have established precautionary measures to regularly screen workers, ensure proper distancing, safely transport workers, provide medical check-ups and disinfect sites. Some contractors have reportedly also provided workers with safety kits like hand sanitizers, masks and gloves.
April 20 – Mumbai Metro
Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) stated work restarted on their 9 metro corridors. Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation (MMRCL) working on the 33.5 km Line-3 (Cuffe Parade – Aarey) has been super quiet on Twitter and I haven’t seen reports from the media or insiders of construction work – barring monsoon preparatory work – restarting on that underground line.
April 29 Update: Work has restarted on Line-3, at least on package UGC-01’s Hutatma Chowk Station where NATM tunneling work is scheduled by Larsen & Toubro.
April 22 – Kochi Metro
Kochi Metro Rail Ltd (KMRL) stated testing work restarted on Phase 1’s 1.12 km Thykoodam – Petta section and construction work on Phase 1 extension’s 3.1 km Petta – Tripunithura section.
April 23 – Nagpur Metro
Work restarted at the casting yard of Nagpur Metro’s 7.144 km Reach-2 (Automotive Square – Sitabuldi) of Phase 1.
April 24 – Bangalore Metro
Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) stated work resumed on the 73.92 km Phase 2 project with 1350 workers deployed across 45 sites such as Jayadeva Flyover (pictured in tweet below) for the Yellow & Pink lines’ 6-level interchange, Central Silk Board, Bommasandra, Shivajinagar and Cantonment.
April 27 – Pune Metro
Maharashtra Metro Rail Corporation Limited (MAHA-METRO) tweeted that work has resumed in certain areas such as Paud Phata, Savarkar Bridge, Sangamwadi and Bund Garden Road – areas through which the 14.665 km Line-2 (Vanaz – Ramwadi) passes through.
April 30 – Kanpur Metro
UPMRC indicated work restarted on Kanpur Metro’s 8.7 km priority corridor (IIT Kanpur – Motijheel) at the casting yard and government polytechnic depot. Work will be carried out in one shift – 9 am to 6 pm.
May 5 – Chennai Metro
Chennai Metro Rail Ltd’s contractors restarted preparatory works on the 9 km Chennai Metro Phase 1 extension project (Washermenpet – Wimco Nagar) on May 5 and plan to begin actual construction on May 6.
May 11 – Delhi Metro
Per TOI, work has resumed on the Airport Express Line’s extension to ECC Dwarka Sector-25, Grey Line’s extension to Dhansa Bus Stand and Phase 4’s casting yards under the guidelines announced by the Union Home Ministry which “allowed construction where workers are available on site and cannot be brought from outside“.
May 17 – Kolkata Metro
India’s Ministry of Railways tweeted resumption of work to dismantle Kolkata’s Circular Railway, between Dum Dum Cantonment and Netaji Subhash Chandra International Airport, to facilitate the construction of Kolkata Metro’s 6.87 km Line-4 between Noapara and the Airport.
From the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lock-down, the virus has disrupted domestic & international supply chains of raw material & machinery, and has had a powerful impact on human resource availability due to the flight of labor from urban-to-rural areas and ongoing travel restrictions.
It goes without saying that deadlines have been affected across the board, there will be a cost escalation, and it will take several months for construction activity to pick back up at the level it was at prior to the lock-down. I can already imagine operators in several cities, where work was anyways delayed, have taken this as a blessing in disguise and will blame their execution delays solely on the pandemic. COVID-19 will be milked by them for years to come.
For more updates, check out the Home Page of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
I wouldn’t be pessimistic just yet, TMRG! Anjanapura and Kengeri are still on track for this year! Things will still be on track. Construction has already started again.
Also we appreciate you and your website. We can’t wait for metro phase 2 in Bangalore!
Thanks for your note! Looking forward to Phase 2’s opening as well.
What about Delhi metro?
Haven’t seen media or insider reports on work starting.
Train operations are scheduled to begin “soon”. Last read, DMRC was formulating a SOP to ensure proper distancing and use of facilities.
What about Chennai phase 2
Bidding deadlines for underground tunneling has been extended to July. Deadline for Line-4’s General Consultant has been moved to June. If they stick to this, then work will start only in mid-2021.
Sadly like always work has not started at Kolkata metro rail construction sites