Bengaluru Metro: Betting Big on Solar Power and High-End Technology

The massive metro project in Bengaluru under the aegis of Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited worth an approximate of INR 58,000 crore under Phase 1 and 2 & 2A and 2B has not only implemented pan city coverage for seamless connectivity but also has taken into account superior high-end technology adoption ensuring passenger safety and convenience. “Solar based Power systems of 1.5 MWp installed at 5 stations of newly commissioned R-4 extension section. A savings of INR 100.00 Lakhs per annum approximately is expected due to this with the present energy tariff”, assured Anjum Parvez, Managing Director, Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited in conversation with Poulami Chakraborty of BW Businessworld. 

Excerpts as under:

Would you appraise us of the ongoing projects happening under Bengaluru Metro Rail?Metro Rail project was envisaged for the city in the year 2003 with a plan to expand its coverage across the city uniformly, to ensure seamless connectivity. The Phase-1 of Bangalore Metro Rail Project with 42.3 km and 40 stations of network was completed at a cost of Rs. 13,845 Cr. It has two corridors namely, East -West corridor called the Purple line of length 18.1 Kms with 17 Stations and North-South called Green line of length 24.1 Kms with 24 Stations and both these lines cross at Underground “Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Station – Majestic”.  The Phase 1 of the project was opened for passenger services in stages from October 2011 to June 2017.

On the other hand the Phase-2 of Bangalore Metro Rail Project is for a length of 75.06 Kms with 61 stations is at an estimated cost of INR 30,695 crores.  It consists of four extensions to Phase -1 of the project, namely:

    a)     15.81 km and 13 stations on Eastern side- Reach 1 Extension, 

    b)     09.58 km and 06 stations on Western side- Reach 2 Extension,

    c)     03.14 km and 03 stations on Northern side- Reach 3 Extension and 

    d)     06.12 km and 05 stations on Southern side- reach 4 extension. 

and two new lines, which are:

i) Kalanena Agrahara to Tavarekekre elevated section of 7.50 Kms with 6 stations and Dairy circle to Nagawara underground section of 13.76 km with 12 Stations     totalling to 21.68 kms with 18 stations 

ii) R V Road to Bommasandra 19.15 km with 16 stations. 

These 4 extensions which is of a length of 6.12 km with 5 stations was opened for passenger services on 14th January of the current year.

The Reach 2 extension a length of 7.53 km with 6 stations is ready for commissioning in August 2021. 

The construction of other reaches is under progress and as on July 2021 the physical Progress is 57 %. As a part of the upcoming projects for Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation the project is bifurcated in Phase 2A and 2B 

Phase-2A is from Central Silk Board to K.R. Puram along the Outer Ring Road for a route length of 19.75 kms with 13 Elevated Stations and Phase-2B is from K.R. Puram to Kempegowda International Airport for a route length of 38.44 kms with 17 Elevated stations at an estimated cost of Rs 14,788.1 Crores. For Phase-2A civil contracts are awarded. Land Acquisition and Utility Shifting completed are 100% and 60% respectively and for Phase-2B, Land Acquisition and Utility Shifting completed are 87% and 50% respectively and for works Civil Tenders Technical Bid evaluation is under progress. 

Technology innovation has been playing a crucial role in determining the state of the art amenities and their effectivity. What modern technologies are getting implemented under the metro rail projects in Bengaluru?
Several modern technology are implemented or are under implementation in BMRCL project. These includes installation of Solar based Power systems of 1.5 MWp installed at 5 stations of newly commissioned R-4 extension section. A savings of INR 100.00 Lakhs per annum approximately is expected due to this with the present energy tariff. The Stations are designed to utilize the natural lighting during day time. LED based lights are installed at all stations.

Operation of Major Electrical Equipment and lighting are monitored and are operated through Building Management System. Invertor based VRV/VRF system for air conditioning at Elevated Stations & depots in Phase-2 have been installed. Implemented Variable Frequency Drives (VFD) for underground stations in Environmental Control System & Tunnel Ventilation System equipment.

Adaptation of Platform Screen Doors in UG stations of Phase-2 to reduce Air Conditioning load from 900 T to 400 T per station and hence reducing the Electrical Power consumption. Modern Light weight stainless steel Car body with aesthetically pleasing interiors have been provided in BMRCL Rolling Stock. Improved braking characteristic of the train by extending constant torque zone. With recent improvement in the design of High-Speed Circuit Breaker to obtain increased regenerative energy.

Bangalore Metro Trains for the new lines and future projects will be based on unattended train operation systems. In BMRCL train, State-of-art 3-phase variable voltage and variable frequency-controlled traction system not only utilizes energy during braking but also provide high level passenger comfort by automatically controlling jerk during operation. Microprocessor based. 

Train Air-conditioned system automatically regulates the temperature and humidity to provide comfort to the passenger. Automatic station announcement and display system provides a very accurate real time information to the passengers. 

Passenger Saloon Surveillance systems (PSSS) is provided in each coach to monitor the passenger activity.  Automatic Track Monitoring system is introduced in the new trains with CBTC signalling. Entire Bangalore Metro Rail projects, including Phase-1 network are being made for compliant for travel using National Common Mobility Card and QR code based mobile ticketing systems.

What are the prime challenges that you faced while bringing this major transportation overhaul within the DNA of your city? How have you mitigated these challenges?
The lessons learnt in phase-1, in respect of planning and design, tendering and contract methods, development of in house expertise, foreign funding v/s domestic funding, adoption of newer metro technologies in civil and system works have been mitigated and some of them includes:     

• Reduction in Height of the stations from 14-16mts to 11.10-11.50 mts.

• Reduction of Height of viaducts with a minimum clearance of 5.5 mts and rail level heights now ranging from 9.1 to 10.5 mts (average height).

• Construction of all piers will be with single pour (concreting) and cycle time of pier concreting reduced to 10 -15 days.

• Stations are located wherever open and government lands are available to minimise the cost of the land.

• Tenders have been de-bundled wherever possible (structural works, architectural works and E&M works) to get better quotes and size of packages have been increased to save cost and also saving in time for tendering process.

• Changes in the gate layout to accommodate more numbers of AFC Gates.  

• Changes in the gate cabinet for bi-directional. 

• Changes in Staff gate/barrier height to maintain uniformity.

• Reduction in TOM and EFO room sizes compared to Phase-1.

• Introduction of CBTC Signaling System in Phase-2 project.

• All stations in Phase-2 and future projects service roads are provided away from the main carriage way for station entry, pickup and drop points and bus bays.

• Integration with other modes of transport, by construction of foot over bridges for off road metro stations and for all the on road metro stations, a free passage area is provided for the public to use it a foot over bridge to cross the main roads. 

• BMRCL has entered into MoU with corporates for development and maintenance of median gardens under their CSR initiative to ensure that greenery is maintained and nurtured well so that there is regular bloom and the same adds beauty to the city of Bengaluru and this area is also for protecting the greenery and to prevent accidents during crossing of the roads, BMRCL has installed safety Grills.  

Going forward what scopes and opportunities do you see for expansion and further development of the cities metro rail project? 
The Bangalore Comprehensive Development plan for the city envisages a total of 317 Kms of network for the city for the year 2031. In addition to the ongoing metro project works, Bangalore Metro Rail Project Phase-3 is being proposed to be taken up along the ORR West line is from Kempapura to J.P. Nagar 4th Phase for a length of 32.16 km and Magadi Road line from Hosahalli Metro Station to Kadabagere for a length of 12.82 km. These lines are proposed to construct through PPP model. Presently DPR Preparation is under progress.

Will you share with us of the finance model for completion of the metro projects in your cities? To what extent is the city metro administration leveraging PPP model for further implementation?
For Phase-1 & 2, funding model is as per traditional funding pattern wherein approximately (i) 29% is equity capital {(@ 14.5% each from Government of India (GoI) & Government of Karnataka (GoK)}, (ii) Sub-debt of 11% approximately (for meeting share of central taxes @ 5.5% each from both GoI & GoK) and approximately 14% as sub-debt towards cost of land which is entirely to be borne by GoK. The remaining 46% is senior debt, to be raised by BMRCL through external borrowings and bonds. Of this 46%, about 35% comes from sovereign loans (loan agreements signed by GoI with Multilateral / Bilateral Development Banks & financial institutions)

In Phase-1, one of the stations was built under PPP model wherein the naming and advertisement rights were given to the developer and for one of the commercial establishment land is given on lease for a longer period.

For Phase 2A & 2B, Innovative funding (through PPP model) and value capture financing has also been adopted as per Metro Rail Policy 2017. 

Under PPP for some stations only naming rights (prefixing or suffixing to the station names) are given and in other cases commercial space leasing, Advertising Space, 99 Years for walkway access are being given.  

Please share with us about the budget allocation for Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
The metro project under Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited is funded both by the state government and the central government.  For the phase 1, while the Government of Karnataka sanctioned INR 5060.82 crores, the Government of India also sanctioned INR 3,073 .20 crores and an additional senior debt of INR 5710.99 crores is sanctioned. With that a total of INR 13,845 .01 crores is sanctioned for the Phase1 of the project.

On the other hand the Phase 2 of the project got sanction of INR 13, 272.98 crores from Government of Karnataka and a sanction of INR 5281 crores from Government of India. A senior debt of INR 12,141.14 crores is further sanctioned for the successful completion of the project. A total of INR 30,695.12 crores is sanctioned for the Phase 2 of the project.

For the upcoming Phase 2A and 2B of the project, the Government of Karnataka sanctioned INR 5387.77 crores and Government of India sanctioned an amount of INR 1986.81 crores. Senior Debt of JICA and ADB worth INR 5960.42 crores is allotted for further completion of the project. Funding of INR 1453.10 crores being sanctioned from other Public Private Partnership (PPP). A total of INR 14,788 crores of funds are being sanctioned for the Phase 2A and 2B metro rail project in Bengaluru.

What strategies are you adopting for timely completion of projects across phases?
Ensuring of 100% land acquisition and Utility Shifting before inviting tender and sequential calling of tenders for better planning is of supreme importance for the metro rail project in Bengaluru. We also focus on the reduction of parallel working of organization such as General Consultants. Demolition of the buildings along the alignment has been minimized while fixing the alignment.

Alignment in the railway lands have been avoided to minimize the delay and cost. To minimize delays in construction due to non-availability of construction material such as sand, m-sand has been proposed to replace river sand. Development of in-house expertise instead of total reliance on external agencies such as Consultants.

We have been focussing on sourcing of more domestic funds than international funds which comes with risk of currency fluctuation and better planning to get statutory clearances.

Is the ongoing metro project in your city leveraging job scenario in the region? What kind of efforts are being made for enhancing skill development among young crowd who are working in this domain?
Presently all the employees working in the Operation and Maintenance wing are recruited through a selection process on merit and all are from the State of Karnataka. 

These employees are being trained for their disciplines skill set at the training institute setup in house. 

In addition to training and refresher courses for in house employees, metro employees from other metros in the country have also been trained in the training institute setup at Bangalore.