BANGALORE: Bharat Earth Movers Limited delivered India’s First Standard Gauge Metro Car to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) on Friday. At a function organised at the Bangalore Metro Complex, Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa flagged off the Metro car and handed over one train set with four standard gauge metro cars to E Sreedharan, Managing Director, DMRC.
Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju inaugurated the imported spot welding machine to manufacture side-wall of Metro cars. Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa handed over the first aluminum wagon of 80 tonnes capacity with bottom discharge, manufactured by BEML, to C R Pradhan, CMD of National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO).
The wagon has longer life and is capable of carrying larger loads and will require less maintenance. BEML also tied up with Steel Authority of India Limited to design, develop and supply 100 tonne stainless steel wagons.
Centre to clear Cochin metro soon
DMRC which has obtained contract to build the Cochin Metro said that it is waiting for formal clearance from the Centre to begin works. Sreedharan said that the Kerala government has already cleared the project.
GAUGE GYAN
Indian Railways have been using three gauges - BROAD GAUGE (5 feet 6 inches), METRE GAUGE (1 metre) and NARROW GAUGE (2 feet to 2 feet 6 inches). While broad gauge lines were meant for trunk routes, the metre gauge and narrow gauge lines were meant to be feeder lines and for mountainous sections.
Former railway minister C K Jaffer Sharief had launched the Project Unigauge which envisaged converting the entire rail network to broad gauge.
While broad gauge trains have a greater carrying capacity, the standard gauge (4 feet 8.5 inches), which is used in most Western countries, was preferred for the Bangalore Metro because of its smaller turning radius, allowing for sharper curves