Thiruvananthapuram : E. Sreedharan, Principal Adviser, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), will lead a seven-member team to Kuala Lumpur and Taipei this month to study the rolling stock used in the urban rail system in the two cities.
The seven-day visit to the cities from May 16 comes ahead of the DMRC’s efforts to finalise the specifications for the rolling stock to be procured for the proposed Rs.6,728-crore elevated Light Metro in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.
During the visit, the team will inspect the rakes used in Kuala Lumpur Metro in the Malaysian capital and Taipei MRT, the largest metro subway system in Taiwan, which serves about 1.3 million riders daily.
The decision to visit Kuala Lumpur and Taipei was taken as the rolling stock proposed for Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode is similar to those in the two cities, DMRC sources told the Media. The DMRC has proposed an 18-metre-long and 2.5-metre-wide rolling stock, with aluminium or stainless steel body for the Light Metro.
Besides Mr. Sreedharan, the team will have three officials from the rolling stock department of the DMRC, General Manger, Civil, DMRC, and two officials of Kerala Rapid Transit Corporation Ltd (KRTL), a special purpose vehicle to execute the Light Metro project.
Six leading rolling stock manufacturing companies had presented the specifications and what they had on offer for the modern coaches for the Light Metro to the DMRC.
French company Alstom, which supplies rolling stock for Kochi Metro, Bombardier, Hyundai-Rotem, Kawasaki, Hitachi and China CNR Corporation Ltd. are the companies that made presentations in March.
The DMRC has commenced preparatory works for the project in the two cities as tasked by the State even as the mandatory nod from the Union Ministry of Urban Development is awaited for the Light Metro.
The 21.82-km Technocity-Karamana stretch in the capital will incur Rs.4,219 crore and the 13.30-km Meenchanda-Kozhikode Medical College stretch, Rs.2,509 crore, on completion by 2021, as per the approved DPR of the DMRC.
