Railway Accounts Department Examinations

Wednesday, July 20, 2022

HMR - Hyderabad Metro Rail




HMR - Hyderabad Metro Rail

 

 

  •  Pride of Hyderabad city

 

  • World’s largest Public-Private Partnership (PPP) project in the Metro Rail sector.


  • An MRTS – Mass Rapid Transport Project


  • An integrated urban transport development project with intermodal connectivity and convenient skywalks  - for seamless commuting across busy Hyderabad city.


  • Gauge: Standard Gauge 1435 mm (whereas Broad gauge -1676 mm is used in Indian Railways) 


  • Standard Gauge is also called a uniform gauge, UIC gauge, International gauge, etc.  60 % of the World Railway tracks are operated in Standard gauge only.


  • Maximum capacity per 3 car train  - 965  (Each car – 40 seats)


  • Brand Mantra of HMR – “My City, My Metro, My Pride”

 

Why Metro in Hyderabad city

 

  •   The population stands at 1 Crore +.  Projected to touch 1.36 Crores by 2020

 

  • Currently, 50 lakhs personalized vehicles ply on Roads with the addition of 5 lakh vehicles every year. 

 

  • 80 Lakh motorized trips – every day.  Out of which 32 Lakh trips are made by Public transport system i.e., Local Trains & Buses.  The rest of the 48 Lakh trips are made by personal vehicles leading to bottlenecks, high pollution levels & steep increase in fuel consumption


 

  

 

 

DBFOT –Design, Build, Finance, Opeation & Transfer

 

  • 35 years (5 years construction + 30 years Operation)

 

  • Can be extended to another 25 years

 

  • After 35 years, the entire structure incl: Track, Corridors, Station Buildings etc, Rolling stock, Malls, etc should be transferred to State Government i.e., Telangana. 


  • Central Metro Act extended to Hyderabad city. 

 

Salient features

 

  1. Three Corridors -68 KM 

 

  1. Corridor 1 – Red Line   - From Miyapur to LB Nagar -29 KM

 

  1. Corridor 2 – Green Line – From MGBS – Mahatma Gandhi Bus Stand to JBS – Jubilee Bus Stand – 11 KM

 

  1. Corridor 3 – Blue Line – Nagole to Raidurg – 28 KM

 

  1. Concessionaire (the holder of a concession or grant, especially for the use of land or commercial premises or for trading rights.) is LTMRHL – Larsen & Toubro Metro Rail Hyderabad Limited.  It is an SPV – Special Purpose Vehicle

 

  1. Eco-friendly, fully automated, and best-in-class transportation, reduction of carbon footprints

 

  1. RBT – Regenerative Braking Technology 

 

  1. CBTC – Communication Based Train Control technology – virtually one train can speak to another train  

 

  1.  Comfortable Air Conditioned coaches

 

  1. HMRL – Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, a Govt of Telangana enterprise 

 

  1.  Every KM (approx) – One Station 

 

  1. Automatic ticket vending machines - reducing waiting time in queues and counters.

  2. Automatic fare collection system - hassle-free entry and exit from the stations.

 

 

 

Partners 

 

  • Operations & Maintenance – Keolis  (Paris-based organization- World leaders in public transport business)

 

  • Rolling Stock (Coaches)  - Hyundai Rotem of South Korea


  • Communications – Thales, Portugal


  • Signal & Train Control – Thales, Canada


  • Ballast less Track – Tata Corus (France), Voest Alpine (Austria) & Vossloh (Germany)


  • Automatic Fare Collection (AFC) – Samsung (South Korea)


  • Elevators & Escalators – OTIS (USA)


 

Green Metro

 

  • Reduce Carbon footprint by -10 thousand tons of CO2,  200 tonnes of volatile organic compounds & 12 tonnes of particulate matter are eliminated

 

  • Efficient power consumption

 

  • Rainwater harvesting – One lakh liters of water per day is recycled

 

  • One ton of waste paper per year is recycled. This saves 23 trees per year. 

 

Financials:

 

  • Total Estimated Cost – Rs. 14.132 Crores

  • Actual Completed Cost - Rs. 18,411 Crores ( 17,207 Crores by L & T and 1,204 Crores by Government as part of VGF.

 

  • Central Govt support through VGF – Viability Gap Fund – Rs. 1458 Crores. But given so far 1204 Crores


  • Amount spent by State Govt. i.e., Telangana  - Rs. 3000 Crores

 

  • 2020-21 FY loss - Rs.1,767 Crores  (Cumulative loss Rs. 3,279 Crores)

 

  • Debt element as on date - By L&T  - 13,252 Crores  ( Interest rate 9.1 %) 

 

  • Yearly Interest charges are borne by L & T - Approx 1200 Crores. 


  • Revenue Model  - TOD – Transit Oriented Development

 

  1. Passenger fares – 50 %

 

  1. Retail Malls (as TOD) -40 %  (57 acres given by State Govt on lease basis)

 

  1. Advertisements & stalls at Stations – 5%

 

 

Status of Metro trains – World over

  • Approx 200 Metro Trains in Cities worldwide


  • Out of that, only 4 are in profits (Tokyo, Taipei, Singapore & Hongkong) 


Prominent features of Rolling Stock

  • 3 Cars Train set (can be extendable to 6 Cars Train set)


  • Maximum Design Speed – 90 kmph


  • Maximum Operating Speed – 80 kmph


  • Average Speed – 33 kmph


  • Dwell/Halt time at Station – 20 Seconds 


  • Energy regeneration during electro-dynamic braking 


Timeline 

  • Conceived in 2007 (HMR formed)

 

  • Agreement with L&T – 2010


  • First Corridor started – in 2017 (28th November)


  • Last Corridor started – 2020 (7th February)


  • Key takeaways for MCQ ( General Knowledge)

    1. PPP stands for Public Private Partnership 

    2. World’s Largest PPP project in Metro Rail sector  - Hyderabad Metro

    3. MRTS stands for Mass Rapid Transport System

    4. Standard gauge - 1435 MM - Also called Uniform Gauge or International Gauge

    As on 31.03.2017  - Indian Railway's position

    Gauge

    Width

    Route KM

    Percentage

    Broad

    1676 mm

    61680

    92 %

    Metre

    1000 mm

    3479

    5 %

    Narrow

    762 mm &

     610 mm

    2209

    3 %


    Total

    67368

    100 %


    1. DBFOT stands for Design, Build, Finance, Operation & Transfer

    2. CBTC stands for Communication Based Train Control technology – virtually one train can speak to another train  

    3. VGF stands for Viability Gap Fund 

    4. RBT – Regenerative Braking Technology

    5. AFC  stands for Automatic Fare Collection



  • end -



Saturday, July 16, 2022

RDSO - Research Designs and Standards Organisation and CAMTECH



RDSO - Research Designs and Standards Organisation

 

Genesis of RDSO: 



  • Till Independence, most of the designs and manufacture of Railway equipment were entrusted to Foreign countries. 
  • To enforce standardisation and coordination amongst various railway systems, the Indian Railway Conference Association (IRCA) was set up in 1903.
  • CSO - Central Standards Office was set up at Shimla in the year 1930 for the preparation of designs, standards and specifications. 
  •  After Independence, a new organisation called Railway Testing and Research Centre (RTRC) was set up in 1952 at Lucknow, for testing and conducting applied research for the development of railway rolling stock, permanent way etc.
  • The Central Standards Office (CSO) and the Railway Testing and Research Centre (RTRC) were integrated into a single unit named RDSO - Research Designs and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in 1957, under the Ministry of Railways at Lucknow.

 

Salient features: 



  • Located at Lucknow 
  • The status of RDSO has been changed from an ’Attached Office’ to ’Zonal Railway’ since 01.01.2003. 
  • Sole R&D organisation of IR 
  • Technical advisor to Railway Board, Zonal Railways and Production Units
  • Headed by a Director General ( GM equivalent Rank - HAG +)
  • Assisted by Special Director General (Engineering), Special Director General (Vendor Development), Additional Director General, Principal Executive Directors and Executive Directors, heading different directorates.
  • Total Directorates - 32 
  • All the directorates of RDSO, except Quality Assurance field Units, are located at Lucknow.
  • Liaison Cells at Bangalore, Bhopal, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hyderabad and New Delhi.

 

Functions of RDSO:



  • Development of new and improved designs.
  • Development, adoption, and absorption of new technology for use on Indian Railways.
  • Development of standards for materials and products specially needed by Indian Railways.
  • The technical investigation, statutory clearances, testing and providing consultancy services.
  • Inspection of critical and safety items of rolling stock, locomotives, signalling & telecommunication equipment and track components.

Governing Council: 

  • Chairman: Chairman & CEO, Railway Board
  • Members: Member Finance, Member (Infrastructure), Member (Traction & Rolling Stock), Director General (Staff), Member (Operation & Business Development), Addl. Members (Plg) and Director General,/RDSO
  • Member Secretary: Executive Director E&R/Railway Board

Functions: 

  • To identify and approve the R&D projects for technology development on Indian Railways.
  • To review the progress of projects
  • To determine the quantum of direct investment in technology development within the overall allocation of funds under the Plan Head ’Railway Research’. -1800
  • To give direction for improving the working of RDSO

CBRR - Central Board of Railway Research

  • Chairman - Director General, RDSO
  • Member Secretary - Additional Director General, RDSO
  • Members: AM (Civil Engg.), AM (Mech. Engg.) AM(Signal), AM(Traffic), AM(Finance), Adviser (Infra), ED(E&R), ED(Planning) 
  • Consists of Non-Railway Members such as Scientists, Technologists, Engineers and Senior executives of other research organisations, academic institutions and industrial units related to Railways. 

 

Functions of CBRR: 

 

1.    Recommend the programme of research on IR

2.    Review the research programme from time to time

3.    Coordination and assistance from other research bodies

4.    Review the ongoing projects from the technical angle

 



CAMTECH

  • Stands for Centre for Advanced Maintenance TECHnology 
  •  Headquarters: Gwalior  
  • The subsidiary organisation under the administrative control of RDSO(Research, Designs & Standards Organisation), Lucknow. 



  • CAMTECH Directorate headed by PED (PHOD Rank in HAG Officer)

Objectives: 

  1. Serving 4 Technical Departments of Indian Railways i.e., Civil, Mechanical, Electrical, and S&T
  2. Upgrade maintenance technologies and methodologies and achieve improvement in productivity and performance of all Railway Assets and Manpower.
  3. Carries out in-depth studies of maintenance problems, identifies and helps Zonal Railways to implement possible solutions.
  4. Imparts Training
  5. Prepares Maintenance Manuals, Handbooks, Technical instructions, guidelines, pamphlets, and video films for maintenance of all 4 Technical Departments of Indian Railways i.e., Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and S&T

 

Key Takeaways for MCQ - RDSO

1.    RDSO stands for Research Designs and Standards Organisation. 

2.    RDSO Headquarters: Lucknow

3.    RDSO headed by Director General (GM Rank - HAG+)

4.    RDSO is the Sole R&D organisation of IR 



5.            Technical advisor to Railway Board, Zonal Railways and Production Units



6.            The status of RDSO has been changed from an ’Attached Office’ to ’Zonal Railway’ since 01.01.2003.



7.            IRCA was set up in 1903 and closed in 2022

 

8.            IRCA stands for Indian Railway Conference Association

 

9.            CSO - Central Standards Office set up in 1930 at Shimla - the predecessor of RDSO

 

10.          Railway Testing and Research Centre (RTRC) was set up in 1952 at Lucknow - predecessor of RDSO

 

11.          CSO and RTRC - integrated into a single unit named RDSO in 1957

 

12.          CBRR stands for Central Board of Railway Research



13.          Liaison Cells at Bangalore, Bhopal, Mumbai, Kolkata, Jaipur, Hyderabad and New Delhi.

14.          Plan Head number for Railway Research - 1800



15.          CAMTECH stands for Centre for Advanced Maintenance TECHnology.

16.          CAMTECH Headquarters: Gwalior

17.          CAMTECH is a Subsidiary Organisation of RDSO

18.          CAMTECH is Headed by PED (HAG rank)

19.          CAMTECH serves all 4 technical departments i.e., Civil, Mechanical, Electrical and S&T

20.          PED stands for Principal Executive Director

-end-