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METRO RAILWAY NOW IN THE LEAGUE OF SINGAPORE, LONDON, MOSCOW, BERLIN, MUNICH, AND ISTANBUL METROS
Kolkata, 08.09.2024
Metro Railway is now in the league of Singapore, London, Moscow, Berlin, Munich and Istanbul Metros. Metro Railway has started replacement of steel-made current conducting third rail with aluminum third rail in Blue Line. The replacement work of steel third rail by highly conductive Aluminum third rail at Girish Park siding has been completed on Saturday-Sunday night. With this, Metro Railway has created history of being the first Indian Metro to do the replacement of steel third rail with Aluminum third rail. This change shall ensure 84% reduction in energy loss which is Rs. 1 Cr / year per km route. Metro Railway, Kolkata has a plan of introduction of 35 km Aluminum third rail in next two years. The replacement work shall be done during non-commercial hours without affecting commercial services.
Preparatory work of this project has been completed at Maidan Siding. Metro Railway has replaced approximately 200-meter long steel third rail with Aluminum third rail last night. Approximately 50 staff and supervisors led by Deputy Chief Electrical Engineer/ Maintenance / Coordination Sri Sumit Kayal completed this historic work smoothly before commencement of commercial service on Sunday morning. The Maidan Y siding steel third rail replacement works by Aluminum third rail shall also be taken up shortly.
Preparatory work of pedestal base foundation laying has already been started in main line. Metro Railway is using premix concrete for this foundation to avoid any adulteration and better performance in site. This is being done for the first time in Metro Railway. The strength is of M65 grade compared to normal concrete of M20 grade.
This highly conductive Aluminum third rail has the capacity to reduce the system voltage drops and subsequent energy losses, thanks to its superior electrical conductivity. This less voltage drop in the third rail will help to achieve faster acceleration of the running Metros. As a result, for completing one trip lesser time will be required and in turn Metro will acquire the capability to run services at lesser intervals during the peak hours. That will be an improvement in the efficiency of Metro operations. In this new system, a huge amount of energy will be saved. As a result, the entire expenses for replacing this third rail could be realized within three years. Additionally Aluminium third rail shall reduce carbon emission by 50000 tons in its lifetime.
Apart from this, Aluminum third rail will require less maintenance and will be highly reliable and stable. In a hot and humid city like Kolkata this replacement will be very much beneficial and inside the tunnel lesser heat will be generated during the time of contact of Third Rail Current Collector (TRCC) with this third rail. For maintenance work the new third rail will not require any welding as two such rails can be joined with the help of splice joint. It will help to maintain the air quality inside the tunnels.
Kausik Mitra
Chief Public Relations Officer
