Indore, Bhopal to have metro rail

Greasing the procedural wheels for the state's long awaited entry into the metro railway league, the state government inked its in principle-approval for constructing metro railway networks in both Indore and Bhopal cities, on Monday. Indore will have a 29 km metro rail track, while Bhopal is to sport a 28 km track in the first phase.E Sreedharan, Managing director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation who built the Delhi metro, the Konkan railway and other rail showpieces, will reach Bhopal on December 20 to submit the DMRC report. Based on the report, the state government will give the formal nod for preparation of the Detailed Project Reports (DPR). The preparation of DPR is expected to cost about Rs 6 crore, which will be split equally between the state and the central governments. The DPR is likely to be in place within six months. Urban development minister Babulal Gaur confirmed that the government has given the go ahead for the metro rail projects. Once the DPR is ready, the financing aspect would be mulled. But since the state government by itself cannot foot the entire bill, central help is being sought for the project, he added. Indore mayor Krishnamurari Moghe confirmed the commercial capital will have a 29 km long metro track with three routes; MR10 to Ring Road via Palasia, Niranjanpura to Bypass and Shuklia to Rajendra Nagar. "The completion of first phase may take four to five years, but once it is ready it will solve the problem of public transport," he said, adding that Indore, which is growing at a phenomenal rate, badly requires a modern public transport system for the future. Bhopal, on the other hand, will have a 28 km-long track in the first phase. The first track will be of 10 km, while the second and third would be of 9 km each. The first track will be completely elevated, and the second and third will have 5 km elevated route; the remaining 4 km will be underground. Minister Gaur said that first phase will cost around Rs 6000 crore each for Indore and Bhopal. In the congested areas where land acquisition may be a problem, the tracks will go underground and cost around Rs 352 crore per km. In open areas the elevated tracks will cost around Rs 187 cr per km. The state government had earlier roped in DMRC to do a feasibility survey from April 2010 to January 2011 at a cost of Rs 1.13 crore for the metro rail projects. The government had based its proposal to the union government on that report. The union urban ministry had recently announced that it would assist cities with a 20 lakh-plus population to have metro railways, for which Indore qualifies. Bhopal, with a lesser population had not, but the state government had maintained that it would be given an equal priority in the metro rail plans.