Metro Express – On the Right Track [BFM82]

METRO EXPRESS

ON THE RIGHT TRACK

METRO EXPRESS

WE TAKE A LOOK AT MAURITIUS’S LARGEST INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT, AND HOW IT WILL HELP TRANSFORM THE NATION ENVIRONMENTALLY AND ECONOMICALLY.

ON THE RIGHT TRACK PROJECT MANAGED BY: JOHN HOLLIMAN

The Metro Express Project is the largest infrastructure project the island of Mauritius has ever seen. Featuring 26km of railway, brought about through 18.8 billion rupees (roughly 500 million USD) of investment, the Metro Express Project is being funded by the government of India through a grant and a loan while being developed, overseen, managed and operated by Metro Express Ltd.

P

hase One of the project, which consists of the first half of the line, has been operational since December 2019 with a 12.6km track from Port Louis to Rose Hill. When completed, the Metro Express’s final track will feature 19 stations covering 26km, with six transport hubs at strategic locations.

Larsen & Toubro (L & T) is the EPC Contractor and RITES is the project Supervisor. Metro Express Limited is leading the project as the client organisation, Developer and Maintainer.

“We also have Singapore Cooperation Enterprise supporting MEL staff in contract management as well as SMRT who also helped MEL in operations readiness for Phase 1 start of operations. We

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managed to achieve successful completion of Phase 1 by working collaboratively with all these key players.”

It’s an impressive project in scale and ambition, but it’s also an endeavour that has been launched to combat a serious issue.

“The main motivation for the project is that congestion is a major problem in Mauritius,” says Dr Das Mootanah, CEO of Metro Express Ltd. “We have about 600,000 vehicles for a population of 1.26 million. They love their cars, whether they’re taking them to work or to go to the beach. So, the light railway gives them a choice to promote a shift towards public

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Telephone: Telephone: Telephone: CIN: CIN: CIN: L74899DL1974GOI007227 L74899DL1974GOI007227 L74899DL1974GOI007227

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RITES Ltd. RITES Ltd. (a Govt of India Public Sector Unit), the Project Management Consultant on Metro Express Project, is a leading transport and infrastructure development Consultant providing seamless connectivity and multimodal transport solutions, with expertise from conceptualization to commissioning, involving Railways, Urban Transport & Infrastructure, Highways, Airports, Island Waterways, Port and Ropeways etc. RITES has worked and provided services in over 55 countries in last 46 years. Range of activities involved are Feasibility Studies, Detailed Project Reports, Detailed Design, Project Management Consultancy, Quality Assurance, Procurement Services, Modernisation and Up-gradation of Workshops, Education/Institutional/ Residential Building Projects, Human Resource Development, technical and management support as well as maintenance support for railway operations.

It exports Locomotives, Coaches and Wagons to various countries and also provides rehabilitation and maintenance Services for the same.

transport. Our target is a 10% shift from private vehicles to public transport, and a 20% shift from buses, etc.”

The goal is not simply to reduce car use, however. This project is also set to act as a economic growth stimulus across Mauritius.

“Urban regeneration is a major driver for the project.

I’ve worked in the UK on the 2012 Olympics, where urban regeneration was a by-product of the event,” Dr Mootanah explains. “In the same way, a new light rail is good for bringing about urban regeneration. It’s environmentally friendly and increases connectivity.”

While the project is not yet completed, it’s already yielding results, with the completed Phase One already commercially operational and carrying in the region of 17,000 passengers per day from the outset and 10,000 passengers a day post Covid-19 period.

Now Metro Express Ltd is focusing its attention on the construction of Phase Two, which itself has already been broken down into two parts. The first of those is an additional 2.6 km from Port Louis to Quatre Bornes, which is a major city.

“We are targeting April next year for the completion of that stage,” Dr Mootanah tells us.

RITES has provided consultancy services for planning of High Speed Rail in India, Dedicated Freight Corridors, ROBs, Traffic Integration Plan, Comprehensive Mobility Plans including that for Design & Construction of 11 Kms long Pir-Panjal Tunnel, Design of Ganga Bridges in Patna & Munger, Bogiebeel bridge over River Brahmaputra, Jubilee Bridge on River Hooghly to name a few.

RITES has been involved in planning and PMC/DDC services to various metro projects in major Indian cities such as Delhi, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Pune, Indore & Bhopal Metro.

RITES Ltd. is the PMC/Supervisor, for implementation of 26 kms Metro Express Project (LRT) at Mauritius, providing assurances in all aspects of the project management including review of specifications, designs, methodologies, quality, safety & risk management, physical and financial progress monitoring, interfaces, construction and installation supervision, integration, testing & commissioning for operation readiness for all systems (Civil, Rolling Stock , Power supply, Traction, Track, Signals & Communications etc.).

Target of completing 12.5 kms of Phase 1, between Victoria Port Louis & Rose Hill including Depot, within 2 years from start of the project was indeed a challenge due to various factors, explains Mr Arun Kumar Singh, Project Director/RITES. Due to non-availability of local resources for rail-based transportation system almost everything had to be imported, after designs etc were finalised, including skilled workers. Huge earthwork, in the volcanic strata, design and construction of various bridges/elevated stretches in urban area such as Port Louis, La-Butte, viaduct over Motorway, Elevated station at Rose Hill, 25 m high bridge over GRNW-6 river etc., followed by works of other systems such as track, traction, signalling etc. were to be done. Rolling Stock designs, manufacturing and testing in Spain and Mauritius were to be done followed by testing & commissioning of integrated system. As natural for any such at grade LRT system in urban areas, the role of various interface stakeholders was very critical for LRT-Road intersections & TSPS designs, utilities identification and diversions/traffic management etc. Robust monitoring and resolution mechanism were put in place to mitigate any challenge collaboratively, as soon as they were encountered.

“Understanding that RITES’s role, as PMC, for the project implementation within time, was very crucial and hence, with our vast experience of planning and project management on similar Metro & Railway projects, we placed our experienced and competent expert team on the project, identifying the key risks on real time and getting them mitigated on priority collaboratively with concerned stakeholders, as required, and achieved the target of operations of Phase-1 in time and we are proud to be a key part of the project, which further strengthens our credentials overseas,” says Mr Singh. www.rites.com

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Keller is proud to have carried out the piling works for the Metro Express project in Mauritius.

global strength and local focus Tel: +230 452 0454 / 452 5784 E-mail: info.mru@keller.com www.keller-africa.co.za

Keller offers a comprehensive range of geotechnical and marine engineering services including both design and construction for the General Construction, Civil engineering and Mining Industries.

Keller provides dedicated expertise in: Ground improvement, deep foundations, grouting, earth retention and near shore marine works.

KELLER FRANKI AND THE FAST TRACK In what is referred to as one of the most challenging railway line projects in Mauritius, Frankipile Mauritius International, a Keller Company, has successfully completed the foundations for various structures along the 26 kilometre route.

The Mauritius Light Rail Transit system, including 19 stations, is now nearing completion.

The new line runs from Curepipe to Immigration Square in Port Louis and passes through densely urbanized areas of Vacoas, Rose Hill and Quatre Bornes making access to the various sites and piling positions very awkward and difficult. The location of the Metro express running parallel to inner city roads added to the technical and logistical challenges.

Metro Express Ltd appointed leading construction company, Larsen and Toubro, for the design and construction of the Metro Express. FMI were originally commissioned

by L&T to conduct the geotechnical investigation along the 26 kilometre route. This investigation consisted of 257 no. boreholes to assess the underlying geotechnical conditions.

The results from the geotechnical investigation revealed that a piled foundation solution would be most suited for the various structures associated with the new railway line.

Following the geotechnical investigation and pile testing phase, FMI was appointed as the specialist piling contractor for the project.

In total, for the first phase of the project, FMI has installed 288 no. piles spread over 5 different sites and for the second phase there are 134 no. piles spread over 4 different sites. The piles were 1 metre in diameter and founded at an average depth of 13.5 meters below ground level.

Despite all the challenges, the FMI team were able to successfully complete the first phase of the project within time and on budget and FMI are currently busy completing the second phase. www.keller-africa.co.za

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FULL STEAM AHEAD

While the Metro Express light rail is eagerly anticipated, it has taken a long time for this project to come to fruition.

“A project built around this mode of transport has been in the pipeline since the 80s and it has taken this long to get it off the ground,” Dr Mootanah recalls. “The project has faced a lot of stakeholder challenges in that time, but thanks to the Government’s current vision and strong will, we managed to officially launch the project in 2016.”

Another challenge is that, like any large-scale rail project, the Metro Express needed to build positive engagement with the owners of the land the railway would be passing through.

Moreover, with Phase One in action, it is becoming easier to persuade people of the efficacy of the project.

“We managed that through communication. People can see the trains are running and the level of customer service we provide,” Dr Mootanah tells us.

“We have also learned many lessons from Phase One that have been useful for us for Phase Two. “

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“WE COULD NEVER HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT WE HAVE WITHOUT THIS COLLABORATIVE APPROACH.” The project has also seen a number of technical challenges, and Metro Express Ltd has had to bring the full weight of its skills to bear. But more than that, it has had to ensure that a range of people with a diverse and overlapping set of areas of expertise were able to communicate effectively.

“This project has a great deal of complexity, with lots of interfaces between entities with different mandates,” Dr Mootanah points out. “We needed a special network to get all these people together in terms of road traffic safety, utilities, wastewater, police, among others. We needed to have them all in one forum to agree on how to get into the next step.”

Work has been done in urban areas going across major cities, so to finish the first phase in less than two years has been a challenge in itself, but Metro

Express Ltd has delivered results.

“Currently, we are faced with the challenges COVID-19 presents our operations with.

We are implementing the usual measures in terms of cleaning everywhere, checking temperatures, and keeping communication channels open,” Dr Mootanah says. “We’re facing a broad range of challenges and we’ve only been able to address those challenges by working collaboratively and having everyone involved from the outset. We’ve had the Minister of Land Transport and Light Rail, Honourable Alan Ganoo, himself to chair a lot of meetings, and he’s closely monitoring the project. We could never have achieved what we have without this collaborative approach.”

THE TRACK AHEAD

Metro Express Ltd (MEL) has come a long way from when it was initially launched in 2016.

Dr Mootanah joined MEL in the year 2018 after working for the Road Development Authority, when it was only a team of six to ten people. Today, the company has a staff of over 240 people and is still growing.

“We will be operating the full length of the railway and there are already plans to extend the network,” Dr Mootanah says proudly. “People are getting used to it. It’s looking very positive and we are looking forward to it.”

Having brought the project this far, Metro Express is also being approached by other neighbouring countries namely Reunion Island, Madagascar etc, looking to learn from our experience.

“We’re the only railway company in the Indian ocean at the moment so we have had visits from transport ministers from Madagascar and elsewhere,” Dr Mootanah says. “In the future, once we’re operational over

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the 26 kilometer line, we will be thinking about ways to share our knowledge with places where there are similar projects.”

Looking forward, Dr Mootanah stresses that Mauritius, and indeed the transport sector as a whole, will need a combination of solutions and collaborative working with all other transport players.

“We will be using technology to integrate different modes of transport so everyone has a place under the sun and can contribute to bringing about this intelligent transport infrastructure,” he tells us.

Dr Mootanah wants the future to be a sustainable one, which is why Metro Express Project ensured that three trees were planted for every one cut while laying the tracks, and why the company has built an eightarpents park at the centre of the new rail network.

“We’re doing that to integrate environmental sustainability. The Ebene Recreational Park is in the middle of the network and has over 60,000 plants already,” Dr Mootanah says. “It has recently been launched and is now open to the public. The future is not just about the mode of transport.

It’s a new way of life.”

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