Safety inspection of Jaipur Metro tunnel likely in March

JAIPUR: The commissioner of metro rail safety is likely to conduct safety inspection of Jaipur Metro, Phase IB corridor in March.
As finishing work of the underground corridor is expected to be completed next month, the Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) is planning to invite CMRS in February.
A senior JMRC official said, “We are already conducting internal trials. We will invite the CMRS by the end of February. During the inspection, the commissioner will check track parameters, tunnels and the stations, calibration of the trains and firefighting system among others,” he said.
Official said, the JMRC started internal trial run in November last year on Phase IB corridor which has underground length of 2.4km from Chandpole to Badi Chaupar in the Walled City.The underground corridor, which is expansion of Phase-I (Mansarovar to Chandpole) is expected to be operational by March 2020, as per the plan.
In September 2018, the internal trials were initiated to enable former chief minister Vasundhara Raje to flag off the project like her successor Ashok Gehlot did it in 2013. However, the plan failed as project was not completed, official sources said.
The length of entire Metro corridor Phase 1A and 1B is 12.07km. After BJP came to power, Raje inaugurated Jaipur Metro Rail Project (Phase 1A) in June 2015. This corridor was made operational in 2015 after spending Rs 2,023 crore. An official said, “The project cost of underground Phase-IB project is Rs 1,126 crore. Out of which, Rs 969 crore has been provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).”
Sources at JMRC said, the Metro Phase 1B missed its June 2018 deadline due to various reasons including Supreme Court ban on sand mining, shifting of seven temples and design change of two underground stations. The JMRC officials believe there will be increase in ridership after the Phase 1B) is operational. In absence of Phase 1B, the performance of Phase-IA of Jaipur Metro was ‘poor’ as the average ridership dipped.
“At present, average 20,000 passengers commute through Metro daily, as against the projected figure of one lakh. But Phase-II is expected to boost the numbers,” said a senior official.