Commissioner for Railway safety to conduct inspection from September 4; Prime Minster likely to inaugurate first reach by Sept 15.
The Commissioner for Railway Safety (CRS) is likely to visit Bangalore to inspect the Bangalore Metro on September 4. The CRS officials, including the commissioner, D K Singh from South Central Railways would take three to four days to complete all the physical tests of the Metro before issuing the final safety certificate, said N Sivasailam, managing director, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL).
“There are two aspects to railway safety. One is physical inspection and the second is documentation. We have submitted the documents to the Railway Ministry and are waiting for the commissioner to come and do the inspection,” he said.
The safety certification process is expected to take about three to four days. “Once the clearance is issued, we will invite the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to come and dedicate the Metro to the nation. The day it is inaugurated by the prime minister, the service will be opened for the public to commute the same day,” he told reporters here. Chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda today travelled on the Metro and visited the terminal building and other facilities at Baiyappanahalli and M G Road on the 7 km-long Reach-1 of East-West Corridor.
Gowda said he was happy with the Metro works and was waiting for the CRS to issue a safety certificate.
“The Metro service will be inaugurated by the prime minister sometime by mid-September,” he said.
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Sivasailam said the BMRCL is presently testing the schedules this week with a frequency of six minutes. The corporation is presently operating five rakes with three coaches each. Another two coaches are ready and will be added very soon. The first five rakes have been imported from Rotem of Korea. Other coaches are made by BEML Ltd. The construction was started in August 2007 and the first reach was completed in March 2011 and then on the testing has been going on.
The revised cost of the first phase of 42 km is Rs 11,609 crore. Originally, it was estimated at Rs 8,158 crore. The project is conceived with a debt : equity ratio of 70 : 30 per cent. So far, the BMRCL has spent Rs 4,000 crore. The next reach of 11 kms will be commissioned on the northern line between Swastik to Peenya in December 2012. The 18.10 km long East-West corridor between Baiyappanahalli and Nayandahalli would be ready for operation by March 2013, Sivasailam said. The system is designed to carry 1 million passengers when it is fully completed.
He said the BMRCL would be submitting the detailed project report for the second phase to the cabinet within a month for formal approval. The cabinet has already given its in-principle clearance for the Rs 23,800 crore project, which will have about 72 kms.
“The detailed project report is ready and the due diligence is also done for the second phase. We would submit the DPR within a month,” he said.
After the cabinet approves it the proposal will be sent to the Central government for their approval as they are the 50 per cent partner in the project, he said. The BMRCL is yet to decide on the exact amount of loans to be taken from the Japanese government for the second phase. As regards to the first phase of the project, the corporation has taken a loan of Rs 2,800 crore. So far, Rs 800 crore has been drawn from the Japanese government agency, he said. The Japanese loan is towards the underground work, signalling and telecom, AFC and general consultancy services.