Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was established by the Government of India and the Government of Delhi to build a new metro system in the capital. The project is being carried out in phases – Phase I (65.11km) and Phase II (128km) have been completed.
Phase III and IV extensions, which will expand the network to 413.8km, are scheduled to open in 2016 and 2021 respectively.
The capital investment for Phases I and II was USD 2.7bn. Thirty percent of the total investment was funded by Government of India (GoI) and Government of Delhi, while another 60% was financed through a loan from Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Phase III involves construction of 140km line with 92 stations and 17 interchange points. It is scheduled to be completed by 2016 at a cost about USD 1.4bn.
In 2011, the Delhi Metro project became the first railway project in the world to be certified for carbon credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, by the United Nations. DMRC saved 112,500MW of power by using regenerative brakes in the trains, and reduced carbon emissions by 630,000t yearly.
The Delhi Metro consists of six lines, with a total length of 190km with 142 stations including 35 underground stations. Delhi Metro was designed to be integrated with other public transport and DMRC signed an agreement with bus operator Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to integrate management and through-ticketing.
The trains use centralised automatic train control (CATC) comprising automatic train operation (ATO), automatic train protection (ATP) and automatic train signalling (ATS) systems.
Intercoms are provided for emergency communication between the passengers and the driver in each coach, and on-train announcements are in Hindi and English. There are also route maps and LCD display systems in every coach.
In February this year, Alstom has been awarded a contract worth EUR 25 million by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) to provide track work on the new line 7 of Delhi Metro by the end of 2016.
This new line is 59 km long and includes 38 stations. It is part of the Delhi Metro Phase III project to extend the metro network from 6 to 8 lines. With the two new lines expected to open in early 2017, the number of commuters is projected to go up from 3 million currently to about 4 million.
Alstom is in charge of the supply, installation, testing and commissioning of 30 km of concrete and ballast tracks. The concrete track is for the elevated and underground sections from Lajpat Nagar to Shiv Vihar stations, while the ballast track is for the depot.
by Elena Ilie
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