Title - Ahmedabad Metro to be driverless, gets a nod for broad gauge

GUJARAT: Ahmedabad metro rail will be driverless and broad gauge project, said a top expert involved in the project. The broad gauge will result in savings of Rs 1,000 crore in capital expenditure and Rs 20 crore annually in operational expenditure. A Design Advisory Committee for the project has given a go ahead after considering pros and cons versus the standard metrog uage.

"Metro Expresslink for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA), the company in charge of the project, has zeroed in on Broad Gauge on the basis of recommendations of members ofDAC and their report submitted earlier to the State Government. In the last Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), the report by the Gauge Committee was discussed and it was decided to do further study in detail to arrive at more informed decision," said an official of MEGA.

France-based metro rail consultants M/s Egis Rail has been appointed by MEGA to undertake a comparitive Cost Benefit Analysis of Broad Guage (BG) and Standard Guage. The findings of its report were placed before the DAC and all the members unanimously accepted it.

The report claimed that there will be cost saving on infrastructure and system, rolling stock and also on operation and maintenance on ongoing basis. By selecting BG there will cost saving on civil cost of stations by around 15%, on viaducts by around 2% and on depot by around 7%. The higher capacity of wider coaches of BG will reduce the requirement of the number of coaches and MEGA will save around 11% on rolling stock.

The total cost benefit for rolling stock and infrastructure and system in capital cost will be more than Rs 1,000 crore and Rs 20 crore per year in operation and Maintenance. Core infrastructure works will begin in fourth quarter of year 2013 and Phase I is scheduled to be completed by August, 2017. The entire project including Phase II will be fully operational in March 2021.

MEGA metro rail project will see adoption of latest technology, cutting edge civil infrastructure, and futuristic control mechanism. It will be India's first driverless metro system, resulting in low operations & maintenance cost, increased frequency and safety.

The DAC comprises of M Ravindra, Ex. Chairman Railway Board and Ex officio secretary to the Government of India, Sudesh Kumar, Member of Electrical Railway Board and Ex-officiosecretary to Government of India; R P Agarwal, Director (Technical) with IRWO and former commissioner of Railway Safety; K K Agarwal, former Member (Traffic) of The Railway Board and Ex-Officio Secretary to GoI; N K Goel, former Executive Director Railway Board.