Delhi Metro - Substandard Quality, Worst Planned & Costliest

Delhi Metro - Substandard Quality, Worst Planned & Costliest

 

July08, 2012

 

Honorable PM+FM

Dr. Manmoham Singh

South Block

New Delhi – 110011

 

Copy to The Secretary, Urban Development

 

Respected Sir,

You have lived in London many years, I studied London Underground for about 50 hours on business visit in 1986, when I also studied 6000 EU Patents, Delhi Metro had not learnt anything from London Underground. I opposed the very first line Shahdra to Kashmiri Gate line that runs parallel to existing 4 Line Railway Track & 8 lane highway. METROS Lines shouldn’t compete with Surface Transport but connect high population density Colonies cum Business Centers like Vasant Vihar to Shahdara via RK Puram-Sarojini Nagar-Lodhi Road-Pragati Maidan. Similarly Rohini to Sangam Vihar via Ashok Vihar, Central Secretariat, Lodhi Road , Greater Kailash.

 

DMRC Airport Express Line is too dangerous to operate in view of Structural Faults & Substandard Quality. DMRC be directed to Serve Airports via Dwarka Line.

 

75% of 2m DMRC traffic is on Inter-State two lines – Dwarka-Noida and Jahangir Puri to HUDA Center when Metro System is meant for serving High Density City Blocks. Interstate Routes are better served by Surface Railways – like Suburban Trains in Mumbai that charge a third fare and travel at twice speed and each train carry 4000 passengers – 4 times than DMRC. Fast Suburban average 60kmph twice DEMRC trains for 30% fare. 

 

‘The 44 Kms section between Jahangirpuri and HUDA City Centre (Gurgaon) is covered in about 1 Hrs. 30 minutes. The train frequency varies from 3 minutes at peak time upto 12 minutes in non peak hours.’ This is less than 30kmph.

 

Ring Railways, Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Bhaghpat, Delhi-Panipat, Delhi-Palwal, Delhi-Aligarh, Delhi-Rohtak, Delhi –Alwar EXISTING sections or may add 1-2 more lines are ideal for Fast Suburban Trains and be ready in 6-24 months.

 

Since UP, Haryana and Rajasthan have friendly governments – Delhi can speedily Implement Ring Railways + Intercity Suburban Services on existing tracks and Central Funded Project at nominal cost.

 

All Metro Routes Underground or Over-ground run along existing 6 lane-8 lane highways offer little advantage compared to Bus Service for 1-8 kilometers.

 

Single Meter Gauge Spur Lines

 

25KV Power Supply and BG lines made DMRC twice more Costly that We CAN RUN DOUBLE DECKER TRAINS ON DMRC LINES – 2-6KM single line Meter Gauge 1500V Short Spur Lines could reduce Cost 80%, minimize Dislocations - Daryaganj-Mandi House Spur Line for example.

 

Foreign Consultants Expulsion

 

Troubles for Delhi Metro started when Foreign Consultant who were associated with Phase 1 were expelled and replaced by ‘Incompetent & Inexperienced & Corrupt.’

 

Substandard Airport Line & Badarpur Line Accident

 

I was horrified to see there was no ‘Steel in Pier Caps Where Maximum Required’ and Gammon India engaged ‘Locally Fabricated Substandard Launcher Girder.’ Gammon India had no Crane Operator Expert to even manage Post Accident Clean Up – it was world’s first Big Accident followed by Another Big Accident in history such was the Gross Incompetence of DMRC.

 

GOI and GoD ought to have Dismissed Sreedharan to let thorough investigation and clean up.

 

Urgent

 

From the pictures I have seen – Airport Line Elevated sections are ‘Poor Design and Substandard Construction’ – Viaducts are assembly of several prefabricated blocks, several thousands in Airport Line – fault in any one of then could bring down the train.

 

In civil engineering we Over Design structures to take 5-10 times load but when Piers Crumbles like many in Case of Airport Line – it points to worst imaginable quality of construction.

 

WORST

 

I had reported on July2009 accident (Attached) – DMRC preferred cover up instead. DMRC had not disclosed ‘Accident Reports’ in Detail that is essential to prevent accidents, substandard construction when DMRC ought to have explained everything to the Infrastructure Industry.

 

REMEDY: -

 

1. Operate Ring Railway & Interstate Suburban Services and DMRC could serve Airports via Dwarka Like.

 

2. Dismantle Airport Line, Order CBI investigation, Disclose All Reports.

 

3. Connect single line short meter gauge SPUR lines. Like RK Puram-Jor Bagh, Bhikaji Cama Place to Jor Bagh. Lajpat Nagar to INA Colony etc.

 

4. Allow 10 Storey Buildings along DMRC Lines 1000 meters either side.

 

Thank you,

Faithfully,

 

Ravinder Singh*

Inventor & Consultant

Y-77, Hauz Khas,

New Delhi – 110016

 

*Ravinder Singh is a WIPO awarded inventor specializing in Power, Transportation, Water, Energy Saving, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Technologies and Projects.

 

Airport line to nowhere triggers blame game

 

THE first hint of trouble aboard Delhi Metro’s Airport Express line came almost a month ago when the Delhi Airport Metro Express Pvt. Ltd.

 

(DAMEPL), the Reliance Infrastructure- led consortium that operates the line, reduced the speed of trains, which run at 105kmph, to as low as 15kmph in some stretches.

 

The speed of the trains on the 23km- long line connecting New Delhi with the Indira Gandhi International Airport was curbed after the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), which built the Airport Express line, asked DAMEPL to start monitoring the line as it feared a deterioration of the infrastructure.

 

Simultaneously, DMRC had asked consultants Shirish Patel & Associates (SPA) to carry out an inspection of the line.

 

In the second half of last month, SPA filed its report pointing out serious defects in piers, piers caps, bearings and girders (see graphic) on the elevated stretch of the corridor. The elevated stretch of the line, spanning nearly six km, starts after the Shivaji Stadium station and continues up to Delhi Aerocity.

 

At one place, a slab under a girder appeared to have been dislodged, SPA’s report said.

 

The Airport Express line was built by DMRC. DAMEPL only operates the trains. As the fault is in construction work, the DMRC is, therefore, primarily to blame.

But the shutdown will hit Reliance the hardest as DAMEPL is bound by agreement to operate the line for 30 years.

 

DAMEPL had been slowing trains down to prevent more damage to the civil structure.

 

But on Friday, it announced that it was shutting down the line for an indefinite period from July 8 (Sunday) as SPA’s report warned that derailment was a possibility considering the nature of defects.

 

According to SPA’s report, there are cracks in most piers, concrete portions are missing in pier caps, at least 250 bearings out of a total of 2,100 on the line have serious flaws and several girders are twisted, damaged or bent.

 

“This is cause for serious concern and should be examined without further loss of time,” the report said. “The main concern will be that of possible derailment… We can only infer that the margin in factor of safety has been encroached upon.” On July 2, urban development secretary Sudhir Krishna called a meeting attended by DMRC, DAMEPL, Reliance Infrastructure, Delhi government and Railway Board officials. But with DMRC refusing to take the blame, the ministry decided to set up a joint inspection team to go into the defects.

 

“A committee comprising officials from the Indian Railways, Delhi Metro and Reliance Infrastructure is going into the nature of defects and will submit a report within the next 10 days after which repairs will be carried out,” Krishna told a press conference on Saturday.

 

At the July 2 meeting, DMRC managing director Mangu Singh claimed they had already repaired the ‘ worst’ of the faulty bearings and would fix the rest in 10 days.

 

He insisted that the responsibility for keeping the infrastructure in ship- shape condition was the operator’s, DAMEPL, and it was its job to undertake the repairs.

 

“It is the responsibility of the operator to keep the entire assets safe and in good working condition.

 

The defects were not indicated at the time DAMEPL took charge of the line,” Singh said in the meeting.

 

Reliance Infrastructure CEO Sumit Banerjee hit back, arguing that they had a “different risk perception” compared to DMRC and did not want to put passengers in danger. “There was a probability of derailment, and we would not like to run the line without rectification,” Banerjee said, according to the meeting’s minutes. He also hit out at DMRC’s repair work, which he called “cosmetic”.

 

Ultimately, Krishna intervened and a joint inspection team was set up. “As soon as the report of the joint inspection team comes out, DAMEPL should undertake repair works immediately,” the meeting’s minutes states.

 

Banerjee, announcing the line’s shutdown on Friday, admitted the service was running in losses but made it clear the line was being closed on safety concerns and not because of business considerations.

 

Terming Reliance Infrastructure’s decision to close the line as good, Krishna insisted on Saturday that the service, which is being shut from Sunday for repairs, will resume in two months. “By the end of August, we expect the line to be functional again,” he said.

 

But sources in the urban development ministry said the deadline was unlikely to be met because of the sniping between DMRC and Reliance Infrastructure, and the costs involved.

 

Reliance is likely to bear the costs at the moment but will likely seek compensation from DMRC, a source said.

 

Krishna said contractors IJM, the Indian subsidiary of a Malaysian company which was selected by DMRC for the construction of the line after a selection and bidding process, is likely to bear the liability costs. “I agree that the construction should last for at least 100 years and it will last. There are problems with bearings in certain locations.

 

Trains cannot operate with this and this is not the happiest of the happy situation,” Krishna said.

 

Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit said it was always better to err on the side of caution when it came to public safety.

 

Inaugurated on February 23, 2011, the Airport Express line runs on a private- public partnership model.

 

‘The main concern will be that of possible derailment,’ says the inspection report

 

6 killed in Metro site accident, CM rejects Sreedharan offer to quit

Express News Service Posted online: Sun Jul 12 2009,

 

New Delhi: Five Metro workers and an engineer were killed and 15 injured after a launching girder gave way at a construction site near Zamrudpur in south Delhi this morning. DMRC Managing Director E Sreedharan resigned within hours taking moral responsibility, but Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit rejected the offer.

 

The septuagenarian Metro chief flew back from outside Delhi following the accident and, after a brief inspection of the site, made a dramatic announcement of his resignation at a news conference.

 

“I am facing you with a great deal of pain and remorse,” Sreedharan said. “I take full moral responsibility of today’s incident and thereby resign. I have sent my resignation letter to the Chief Minister and the Lieutenant Governor.”

 

“Before I entered this chamber, I took the decision to resign and all my senior colleagues advised me not to take this decision. I normally don’t go against their advice, but this time I have asked them not to interfere.”

 

Late in the evening, Dikshit announced, “We have decided not to accept the resignation of E Sreedharan .”

 

PTI quoted an unnamed top official as saying, “At this time, we cannot let him go. That is why it was decided not to accept his resignation. He is a person of integrity.”

 

The chief minister’s principal secretary PK Tripathy had earlier said that Sreedharan was a “very emotional person”, and that the government would not take a “hasty decision” on the issue. A spokesman for the L-G had said the decision on accepting his resignation would have to be taken “at a political level”.

Sreedharan was not immediately available for a comment.

 

The resignation of India’s celebrated ‘Metro Man’ was triggered by the worst-ever mishap in the history of the Delhi Metro, on the upcoming Central Secretariat-Badarpur line of Phase II of the project, at around 5 am. Two people had died in a similar accident on October 19, 2008 at Vikas Marg in east Delhi .

 

Sreedharan described today’s accident as a “bigger blot”. “For ten years we have maintained a high standard of work atmosphere at the construction sites. What happened last year was a blot on DMRC but we feel this is a bigger blot and a more serious incident,” he said.

 

The 77-year-old Kerala-born engineer-administrator who has been at the helm of the Metro project since 1997, said that the “dimension and complexity” of the project notwithstanding, the loss of lives was unacceptable.

 

“Projects of this dimension and complexity have never been attempted before. There were accidents even in Phase I but not of this gravity. But people have had high expectations and image of DMRC. Whether it is a small incident or not, an accident is an accident. I can take a challenge that no other organisation has such high standards of safety. We are still high on our standards but one casualty is still too many for DMRC,” Sreedharan said.

 

Asked if the Metro’s remarkable record of finishing projects on time — universally admired across India and in many countries abroad — would be affected by his resignation, he said: “Perhaps if a new man comes that may have a setback to the project but my personal conviction about this cannot be compromised. No one is indispensable in any organisation and there are more competent people in the industry.”

 

“My successor will be decided by the Delhi government. This may not be my mistake but as the head of the organisation I have to take responsibility and I think it is right to resign.”

 

Through the hours between Sreedharan’s press conference and Dikshit’s statement, DMRC officials speculated on the fate of Metro projects should their boss leave, with a consensus emerging that they would almost certainly suffer. The Indraprastha-Noida line is slated to open in August, the Inderlok- Mundka line in November and the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar line in December.

 

Sreedharan, who put DMRC on the world map — Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Ireland, Syria and Vietnam have sought the corporation’s expertise — is associated with several other Metro projects in the country, including the Mumbai Metro, the high-speed railway link from Bangalore’s city centre to the airport, and Kolkata’s new Metro project.

 

He is also a member of the working group on urban transport including mass rapid transport systems for the 11th Five Year Plan under the urban development ministry. He was earlier on a high-profile panel that helped a Committee of Secretaries look into the privatization of Delhi and Mumbai airports.