The 5th Metro Rail India Summit 2016 was a lesson on how those involved can build better urban transport – by Jayashree Kini-Mendes
Constructions of metro rails in newer states are fast catching up. Across the country a large number of manufacturers are coming up with emerging technologies that will help the country build better urban transport.
ITP Publishing India realised the immense hold and attraction a Metro Rail India Summit would hold for Indians way back in 2012 when it organised the first summit and made it a resounding success. Now in its 6th year, the Metro Rail India Summit 2016 continues to command the same merit it did the first year and after that. A full-day event was organised at Hotel Shangri-La at New Delhi on March 11, and one that included speakers and panel discussions and ended the evening with recognising companies across various categories that was done through a survey across numerous cities.
Bibhor Srivastava, group publishing director, ITP Publishing India, welcomed the audience and delegates and distinguished between the current metro summit and earlier ones. Making a point, he said that construction of metros have seen such rapid advancements that holding a summit like this once a year means catching up on plenty of developments.
In his keynote, Niu Jie, vice-president, Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd, said that India holds a special place for the company as it looks forward to working with some reputed companies and offering them services and products that are unparalleled elsewhere. “We are the core members of the world’s largest manufacturing giant of railway wagons and EMUs and understand systems like no one else. We are open-minded about contributing to India’s rail transport business. The discussions here will be about enhancing development and manufacturing of metro rails and a sapient blend of ideas. We have come prepared to take on any kind of project that India has on offer,” he reiterated.
The advisor, business development India, for CRRC, Dinesh Suri, spoke about the capabilities of the company and the various technologies and materials it has on offer. He stressed about the advancements that ZhoZhou CRRC Times Electric has made globally and offered sophisticated materials that have withstood disasters. Speaking about packaged solutions for urban transit, Suri said that the company has diagnostic systems, train control and management systems, onboard signalling systems, traction converter and inverters, semiconductors and sensors, among other things.
In the partner presentation, Rattan Kumar, director, sales, marketing & strategic projects, intelligent building solutions, UTC – Climate Controls & Security, India, said he was proud to be part of the IGBC enabled lead to set up green metro standard. He developed on the various types of coolers and chillers that the company provides and one that ensures sustainability for the projects as well as speaking about their efficiency.
R Ramana, GM of Envision Enterprise Solutions stressed on the concept of maintenance and the best practices that metros need to adopt. “Metro rails have a large pull of assets and continuous monitoring is required and one that offers information in real time. We need to work closely with companies for solutions, inventory management and the system should be capable of just-in-time (JIT) so as to maintain minimum stock and procure when demand arises,” he added.
The first panel discussion, Metro Rail Build Planning, Infrastructure, Design & Trends in Metro Rail projects in India touched upon enhancing passenger experience, planning and project management, approaches to help build in challenging environments, and adoption of new technologies. Panel members comprised Bharat Modgil, director, projects, Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd; MP Naidu, project director, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd; Daljit Singh, director, works & infrastructure, Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation Ltd; Rajesh Prasad, chief project manager (metro), Rail Vikas Nigam Limited; Niu Jie of Zhozhou CRRC Times Electric; and Arun Bhatia, MD, UTC Climate, Controls & Security, India. The panel was moderated by Dilip Jadeja, VP, rolling stock & electrical, Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited.
Jadeja posed the question of the importance of metros for commuting and asked the participants to tell abou what makes metros comfortable to travel in. Modgil explained that while metros may have changed several things for commuters, what the operators need to look at is whether they are actually putting in any new technologies to do the same job in a better way. He said that they not been able to match the noise level that Mumbaikars would have liked but the vibratory systems has been installed at the plinth level and there’s nothing that one can do now.
Speaking about new technology selection, Naidu said that any new technology selection means looking at operational cost and maintenance cost. While comfort, quality, etc are important, one needs to know the kind of interfacing it can do and when working pre-cast is always the best method so as to not disturb anyone. L&T Metro Hyderabad has seen much precast and reducing column work.
Arun Bhatia of UTC said that there is more focus to use lesser resources. He spoke about how green stations can help the metros cause and how architects need to maintain flexibility in terms of deciding capacity. He championed the cause of VF drives and BMS platforms.
Jie of Zhozhou CRRC said that the company has made rapid progress and have set up plenty of processes, besides deploying SAP and ERP and Six Sigma.
The next presentation by Alstom Transport India’s Bharat Salhotra, offered a strong push for urbanisation. He spoke of how Alstom is involved in every third metro rail project across the world and offers myriad solutions for rail transport. In the next presentation by Honeywell Building Solutions India, Kamal Arora, regional sales leader was clear that system integration is the way to go. Metros should make everything automated and have the ability to handle emergencies.
The second panel discussion, Metro Royale: Visionary Insights of Metro Leaders, had some distinguished guests who spoke about innovative financing for metro projects and the current challenges and solutions that are available or need to be thought of.
Moderated by Kumar Keshav, MD, Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation, the panellists comprised Rajiv Banga, MD, Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon; VB Gadgil, CE & MD, L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad; Rattan Kumar, of UTC, and Bharat Modgil.
The versatile man that he is, Gadgil spoke about how the project besides being the largest in PPP has also ensured that financing has been done in stages but early on. He stressed that financial viability of a project cannot be assured from fares alone and the government needs to play an active role in the financing and help in removing all stops to make sure the project moves ahead on time.
Rattan Kumar highlighted that stakeholders must come together and resolve challenges and importantly involve citizens of the state to take part in some way if their city is to prosper. Banga made everyone laugh when he realised that his was the smallest metro and that the company has achieved 99.8% standard in punctuality, reliability, and execution.
The next partner presentation had Tapan Paul, regional sales head, system business, government and public safety, Motorola Solutions, speak about Tetra radio communication system and how critical it is to metros. Dr Ajay Talwar, head, business verticals, Bosch, Security olutions, regaled the audience with some questions of his own and could not stress enough on how advanced video solutions are the order of the day.
And in the final panel discussion that highlighted the importance of Operations & Maintenance and their best practices, Alpana Khera, adviser, growth markets, Keolis International, had panellists of the league of Parveen Kumar, director, operations, Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon; B I Singal, former director general, Institute of Urban Transport; Leila Francis, chief commercial officer, Keolis International; and N Anand, principal counsellor, Indian Green Building Council, CII.
Singal went to speak about financial sustainability and how growth in demand and maintaining this is important. Rail transit systems are going to see extensions because cities are expanding. The subsidies that the government offers must be linked to costs. Anand said that metro rail corporations and stakeholders have taken a giant a leap forward and India is the only country to have a metro rating programme.
The evening ended with Bibhor giving a Vote of Thanks and with cocktails.