India's first private metro link approved for Gurgaon
08 Jun 2010
If things work to plan, residents of Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi will be able to commute the government-run metro network as well as the futuristic privately funded metro rail, on a single ticket, by 2013 thanks to RMGL, a joint venture between ITNL ENSO Rail Systems Ltd, IL&FS Transportation Networks Ltd and DLF.
On Saturday, Rapid Metro Rail Gurgaon (RMG), the promoters of the first privately-funded metro project in the country have announced the launch of work on the 6.1km overhead stretch that will directly benefit residents of DLF City (II& III), the National Media Centre, Ambience Lagoon and techies working in DLF Cybercity.
People working in the Udyog Vihar industrial estate, Ambience Mall and the Leela and Trident hotels in particlular would benefit from the network.
The tickets for all stations in the privately-run metro will be priced Rs10 and the initial five-minute frequency, will later be cut to 1.5 minutes during peak hours.
According to Sanjiv Rai, managing director of Rapid MetroRail Gurgaon Limited (RMGL), the company behind the project, the union ministry of urban development has approvede the project and the company has been able to achieve financial closure for Rs1,088 crore.
''We have identified contractor companies and allotted civil, electrification and signalling integration work. By next week, we would issue them work notices to start on-ground work,'' he added.
