The Hindu : New Delhi News : India’s first standard gauge metro train for Delhi

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Tuesday, Mar 17, 2009
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India’s first standard gauge metro train for Delhi

Staff Reporter

Four-coach train has arrived at Mundra Port from South Korea

The train will now be transported by road on four trailers to Delhi
‘While 46 trains will have four coaches each, two will have six coaches’

NEW DELHI: India’s first standard gauge metro railway train has arrived in the country after a three-week-long voyage by sea from South Korea. Delhi Metro’s four-coach train set sail on February 25 this year from Changwon in South Korea, where it was manufactured. It arrived at the Mundra Port in Gujarat on Sunday. The train will now be transported by road on four trailers to Delhi where it is expected to reach by March 30. It will be taken to the Mundka depot of Delhi Metro for testing and will be used on the Inderlok-Mundka line.

So far the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation possessed only broad gauge trains but three lines of Phase-II – Inderlok (Mundka-Central Secretariat), Badarpur and the Airport Express Line are being built on standard gauge as per international norms. The new standard gauge trains are being procured by DMRC for the first two lines, while the concessionaire Reliance-CAF will provide trains for the Airport Express Line.

The front of the standard gauge train will have a single glass pane as can be seen in cars instead of two separate panes as in the existing trains. Other features of the train include closed-circuit television cameras inside and outside the coaches, power supply connections inside coaches to charge mobile phones and laptops, better humidity control and microprocessor-controlled disc brakes. “The train will also have external display boards on side windows of each coach so that passengers can view the terminal stations while standing on platforms. Digital route maps will be provided inside coaches instead of stickers and four passenger information boards will be used in each coach,” said DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal. Informing that DMRC had placed order for 48 standard gauge trains with a consortium of Mitsubishi, ROTEM, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation and Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML), Mr. Dayal said while 46 trains will have four coaches each, two trains will have six coaches each.

“Of the 48 trains, only the one that has arrived was to be manufactured in Korea, while the rest are being manufactured at BEML’s factory in Bangalore. Delivery of these trains is expected to start from May 2009 onward and will be completed by the end of 2010,” said Mr. Dayal.

Stating that the standard gauge trains are only slightly smaller than broad gauge trains, Mr. Dayal said: “DMRC has also placed orders for 83 new broad gauge trains of which 46 will have six coaches each. At present, the organisation has 70 broad gauge trains. Delhi Metro will have more than 200 trains when Phase II becomes fully operational.”

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