Title - Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon may be delayed further

GURGAON: The announcement made by the district administration that the Rapid Metro is likely to be inaugurated on October 2 seems to have caught the Rapid Metro authorities off guard.

The officials of RapidMetro Gurgaon were quick to clarify that certain mandatory approvals are still pending and only after they receive these approvals will they launch the commercial operations, perhaps hinting that the launch might further get delayed.

“We are in the final stage of approval process and expect to launch our services on completion of all mandatory clearances,” said Sanjiv Rai, MD and CEO, IL&FS Rail Ltd, said on Friday.

The authorities were unwilling to say anything more than this and chose to remain tightlipped about when the train would roll out.

On Thursday, the principal secretary to the Haryana chief minister held a meeting with the MD and other officials from Gurgaon and announced that the operations will start on October 2.

Incidentally, last year on October 2, the CM had himself inaugurated the trail run and the MD had announced that the operations would begin by March 2013. However, there has been an inordinate delay and officials have not been forthcoming to state the reason for this unwarranted delay.

However, according to a source, the mandatory clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) is yet to be received.

“After the Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) team from Lucknow conducted the high oscillation trials, the file was submitted to the CMRS. However, the CMRS is yet to inspect the line and only after his clearance, can the line be opened for commercial use. Till such time, we will not be able to say by when we will launch the operation. If we get the clearance before October 2, then definitely, we will launch it then. Else we will have to wait,” said the source.

Factfile:

Trial run inaugurated: October 2, 2012

Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO) inspection: August 2013

This the country’s first Metro rail system developed on PPP model at cost of Rs 1,100 crore

The first phase is of a length of 5.1km with six stations

The official date announced by district administration is October 2, 2013. However, Rapid Metro authorities are not willing to comment on when the operations would begin