Metro fare hiked by Re 1, even before opening - Indian Express - 3rd Nov, 2010

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/metro-fare-hiked-by-re-1-even-before-opening/706317/0

Indian Express: Wed Nov 03, 2010

With eight months left for the commissioning of city’s first Metro rail corridor, the ticket fare has already been hiked by Re 1. The hike for the for the 11.4 km corridor will come into effect from January.

As per the agreement between Reliance Infrastructure Ltd (RInfra) and MMRDA, the fares for the corridor will be hiked after every three years. For the determination of the fares, MMRDA has taken the base year as one-and-a-half times the fare of BEST bus in 2008. “It is as per the agreement and therefore the hike will be revised at 11 per cent every fourth year and round off to the nearest rupee. In this case it will be a one rupee hike; Rs 10 to Rs 11,” said Ratnakar Gaikwad, Metropolitan Commissioner, MMRDA.

Meanwhile, the MMRDA maintains that the construction of the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar corridor will be completed by June 2011. Gaikwad in a press briefing went on to say that the project is “ahead of schedule” as per the concession agreement in which the construction period is five years. “We have worked out the timeline with RInfra on how to complete the work by June next year. Against heavy odds, the VAG corridor will be complete by June 2011,” said Gaikwad. The concessionaire and MMRDA had earlier set a deadline of 2010-end for the commissioning of the corridor which was missed due to several hurdles.

The hurdles— construction of a steel bridge over Andheri suburban railway line and a cable stayed bridge over Jog flyover on Western Express Highway— still stand before the authorities. Gaikwad claims that all the aspects of the construction are on schedule. “As on today 68 per cent of the work has been completed on the corridor which includes via duct, signaling, track laying and rolling stock. The rail system is exactly on schedule. All the 24 coaches will be delivered by March. The DN Nagar depot will be ready by this year end. And we will have a trial in January. This won’t be a ceremonial trial, but a full-fledged trial before the commencement of the corridor. Eighty eight per cent of the work on the stations has been completed and Asalpha will be the first station to be commissioned by March while WEH station will be the last station to be completed by June.

“We are working on the mega block issue with the railways for the construction of Andheri bridge. We are hopeful to finish it in time with a combination of weekly mega blocks and regular two hour work at night,” Gaikwad said.