Agra Metro’s Trial Runs Begin on Priority Corridor’s Elevated Section

Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC) on Tuesday afternoon officially started trial runs (train testing) on a 2.3 km elevated portion of the 29.40 km Agra Metro Phase 1 project.

The team manually operated train-set #15, one of their Alstom MOVIA train-sets, out of PAC Depot and onto 14.15 km Line-1’s Fatehabad Road – Taj East Gate section. This train-set had arrived at PAC Depot in April 2023 where Alstom Transport began signaling trials at its 700m test-track in May.

As always, the sole objective of the first run at a low-speed was to check for Schedule of Dimensions (SOD) clearances and observe the train’s interaction with the civil structure to ensure there are no physical obstructions along the way.

This section (Package AGCC-01) of Agra Metro’s 6 km Priority Corridor (Jama Masjid Station – Taj East Gate Station) was built by Sam India Builtwell through a Rs. 272.95 crore contract awarded in October 2020.

Their team had started pier work in February 2021, launched the first pier cap in August 2021, launched the first of 196 U-girders in November 2021 and the final U-girder in March 2023.

Package AGCC-01 includes 3 stations at Fatehabad Road, Basai and Taj East Gate.

Alstom has so far delivered 5 train-sets to Agra Metro out of 28. Larsen Toubro was responsible for track-work (Package KNPAGT-3) and commissioned its Third Rail electrification system (Package AGE-1 & 2). A full list of contractors can be viewed here.

Video:

In the coming months various subsystems along with the train’s response to being operated at different speeds & braking, and the behavior of the track and Third Rail systems will be monitored.

Here’s a cool video compilation on YouTube of the train shot from various angles:

UPMRC is publicly chasing a March 2024 (revised from August 2024) deadline to complete and open the project’s 6 km Priority Corridor (mix of elevated and underground route) between Jama Masjid – Taj East Gate.

That’ll be quite an achievement as tunneling work has only been completed between Ramleela Maidan – Agra Fort (approx. 334 meters). There’s far too much civil, system and architectural finishing works to go, so I reckon we might see commercial operations first start on this little elevated section in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections. Stay tuned…

For more updates, check out the Agra section or my Home Page! Sign up for free instant email notifications on new posts over here. Like this post? Get early-access to updates and support the site over here.

– TMRG