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.
