CMRS to Inspect Lucknow Metro’s 1st Stretch on July 27-28
The final round of safety inspections on the Lucknow Metro’s 8.48 km Transport Nagar – Charbagh section of Line-1 are scheduled to be held over 2 days on July 27 (today) and 28 by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) from the Indian Railways’ Northern-East Circle.
Construction on this 1st stretch of the 22.878 km line, popularly called the ‘priority corridor’, started in September 2014 by Larsen & Toubro (package LKCC-01) and in September 2015 by SP Singla Constructions (package LKCC-02). Following an initial round of secretive testing, trial runs (testing) commenced on December 1 2016. The Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation received the Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO)’s speed certificate in March-end and then submitted their application to the CMRS after conducting exhaustive testing on the line’s viaduct, for as much as 16 hours a day, and had since been waiting for the CMRS’ team to scrutinize the paperwork and accept the invite.
In the upcoming inspection, the CMRS and his team will visually inspect the line’s tracks and all facets of the stations such as its PA system, signage, safety features, drinking water facilities, station access and control room. Images from recent CMRS inspections from other parts of the country can be viewed here (Kochi), here (Chennai) and here (Bangalore).
LMRCL’s fleet currently consists of 6 trains (14 more are on order), but they plan to initially operate only 4 trains at a frequency of 7 minutes through 8 stations at Transport Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Singar Nagar, Alambagh, Alambagh Bus Stand, Mawaiya, Durgapuri and Charbagh –
Transport Nagar – Charbagh section of Line-1 – view Lucknow Metro map & information
Photo Copyright: LMRCL
For images of Lucknow’s trains, stations and depot, see this.
Once approved, the line’s inauguration date will depend on the availability of local & national ministers. Lucknow Metro will then go on to become India’s 9th operational metro system and easily the fastest constructed project – trumping Kochi Metro’s Line-1 which just started commercial operations in June.
For more updates, check out the Lucknow section of The Metro Rail Guy!
– TMRG
Less than 36 months from start of construction to commercial operations is simply awesome even if it meant only 8km. Wonder if it is because of lessons learnt from other metro constructions across India.
Couple of factors aligning together made this possible –
1) LMRCL’s management – comprises of DMRC veterans who were key in building Delhi’s Phase 2 project. The MD is the most laid-back and frank person I’ve witnessed.
2) Larsen & Toubro – perhaps the best civil construction contractor in the country.
3) UP Government – Props to the Samajwadi party govt for swiftly conducting land acquisition and getting all necessary clearances. They had construction work start even before the central govt’s approval came in.
4) Lucknow city – construction in tier 2 cities is a lot easier with less traffic, less activists etc.
I would to let you know what made this possible
1. MD Lucknow metro. This guy is needed in all infra projects.
2. Construction methodology- precast beams, sacrificial shuttering and many other things which is not used in stations in delhi metro.
3. Really quick design approvals.
4. Really quick solutions to so many problems coming from site.
Delays in India happens as lot of time is wasted by so many people and government agencies that it takes decades for some work to get completed.
Same is the case with Kolkata metro and many others.
Its the people who are involved makes the difference.
TMRG – LnT is a very bad contractor and quality of works shall be seen in a few years.
UP govt just wanted to start metro so they could win elections. A massive loss of around 50cr per year would be born by people of UP due to such huge investment in metro. Now metro is planned in meerut that too underground. People travel by scooters in such a small city. The whole economy would come crashing. Metro was needed in Ghaziabad and Noida first which has been delayed so much.
Construction is easier anyplace given the organisation is willing to do so.
A quick reply to the last line of your comment. Construction is not easy everywhere, Look at east delhi which is so dense and crowded. Even the land acquisition issues are nor sorted there. Whereas greater noida is a developing city with many empty areas. So the construction is going quite fast there,
the comparison was between tier 1 and tier 2 cities after land allocation. I was comparing lucknow metro to kolkata metro , mumbai metro chennai metro and delhi metro. Where space is available still things are taking millions of years. The locations of east delhi is beyond comparison.
Yes , land acquisition are is an issue but there are places in which construction of station is pending since years and not because of space constraints but due to approvals/tenders/ financial issues and other issues.
Shiv – Indian contractors collectively have a long way to go to match the standards set by their international counterparts in quality, worker/site safety and efficiency. Among them, I rank L&T to be the leader.
At the end of the day, construction quality (materials, standards, techniques) is controlled by the general consultant’s team and operator’s team. If any issues arise over the coming years, then all 3 would have to be equally blamed.
If LnT is the best cilvil construction company.. then why hyderabad metro rail civil works are delayed.
Its a political game, the government is not starting the run, CMRS inspection has also been done there. And working is progressing at a good pace there.
Adi – L&T is the concessionaire in Hyderabad (not the project owner), and they have to rely on HMRL and other agencies for making land available & securing construction rights/permits/NOCs.
They’ve done a stellar job wherever a clear right-of-way (land) has been made available, such as Nagole – Mettuguda and Miyapur-SR Nagar.