Govt to set standardised norms for Metro Rail projects

The Urban Development ministry is working on to set standardised norms for Metro Railway projects across the country and six sub-committees appointed by it will soon submit their final reports in this regard.
"We are working on for standardisation of Metro projects in the country. We have formed six sub-committees looking after Metro's different aspects like signalling system, rolling stocks, automated fare collection, bridges.
"Some committees have submitted their reports...They have been given certain feedbacks and are working on putting the final papers," said Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) director Prakash Singh said at a seminar on Monorail and Light Rail Transit (LRT) here today.

The decision was taken because most of the new metro projects have different working specifications.
Most of the manufacturers are foreign companies. Unless they get an idea of Metro rail in India and what is the demand, they won't have a clear picture on how to carry out the projects, Singh said.
The UD Ministry has also asked Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) to appoint Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) in Metro Railway Corporations for more transparency.
"Currently, about Rs 1 lakh crore have been put into several Metro railway projects across the country. Of this the union government has contributed Rs 20,000 crore...So we need to have someone who can keep a check on whether guidelines are followed," Singh said.

He said presently only DMRC has a CVO and he too is on the rolls of the corporation.