First Rapid Metro train lands in India, trial in Oct

In a good news for harried commuters of Gurgaon, the first train set for the intra-city Rapid Metro has arrived in India. The coaches are likely to reach the Millennium City in September for the trial run scheduled to begin by October 2.

Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon (RMG), a six-km Metro rail system connecting Sikanderpur Metro station of Delhi Metro to Cyber City and NH-8 in Gurgaon, is India’s first privately promoted intra-city project.

The project is worth R1,000 crore. The three coaches of Rapid Metro arrived from German firm Siemens’ facility situated at Guangzhou in China at Mumbai port on August 20.

The coaches are already on their way to Gurgaon by road.

As per schedule, the train was supposed to reach the city by August 15.

However, the shipment got delayed from the Shanghai port, said an official of Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL), a special purpose vehicle company of infrastructure-major IL&FS and DLF Metro – an ancillary of DLF.

According to RMGL officials, a total of five light-weight, aluminum trains would be imported. Four of these would be used for ferrying passengers while one would be kept in reserve.

Each train will consist of three coaches with a total capacity to ferry 1,000 passengers.

“Every month, a train would be shipped from Shanghai port to India. All consignments will be reaching Gurgaon by December/January. The trial run would last for two-three months,” said a RMGL spokesperson.

There will be six stations in the city — Sikanderpur, DLF Phase II, Belvedere Towers, Gateway Towers, Mall of India and DLF III.

The Sikanderpur station would be linked to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s Sikanderpur station through a platform.

Almost 90 per cent of the construction work at stations is complete and the commercial operations are likely to begin from March/April next year.

“The trains have been manufactured in China at the CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co. Ltd (CSR ZELC),. It is the biggest train manufacturing unit in China,” added the RMGL spokesperson.

The trains will have a maximum speed of 80 kmph.