Within the next decade, India is expected to surpass China as the world's fastest growing economy. The Indian government is planning a radical overhaul of the country's rail network between now and 2020, including building 25,000 km of new lines and upgrading much of the existing network. Currently, many projects are focused on expanding metro systems in major cities, with nine metro projects currently under construction or tender. Parsons Brinckerhoff is providing design and project management services for some of these metro projects as well as a national freight corridor, while recently established Balfour Beatty India is bidding on several major rail projects.
Lessons from Shanavas M.P. (AKA SHAN) For The Mastering in Entrepreneurship
Spicing Up
1. »SMART LIFECYCLE
DECISIONS
Rail industry prepares
for BIM challenge
» p. 4
INDIA
Expansion of rail
infrastructure vital to
support economic growth
» p. 14
COMMUNITY
CONNECTIONS
Growing urbanisation
drives investment in
integrated transport schemes
» p. 18
INNOTRANS
2012
International reach
and global credibility
attracts 125,000 visitors
» p. 12
People Technologies MarketsISSUE 10 AUTUMN 2012
2. Within the next decade India is
expected to overtake China as the
world’s fastest growing economy,
and the expansion and upgrade of
its rail infrastructure is vital to
support this growth.
SPICING
UP
India’s love affair with railways began in the mid-18th century when its
first routes were built under British colonial rule, and continues to this
day. Rail operator Indian Railways, one of the world’s largest employers,
sees 17 million passengers every day use trains on its routes, which cover
16,500km.
However, despite being a primary mode of transport for many of the
country’s 1.2 billion inhabitants and accommodating more than a third
of the country’s freight traffic, rail investment until recently has taken a
backseat to spending on roads thanks to a boom in car ownership.
Gridlock
India’s 2011 census revealed that car ownership per household jumped
from 2.5 percent in 2001 to 4.7 percent in 2011, with a significant
increase in multiple vehicle ownership per household as well. India’s
government has poured billions into upgrading the country’s road network
to accommodate the rising traffic. However, this has failed to prevent
gridlock in urban areas where vehicle ownership per household is higher
at an average 9.7 percent.
As a result many of the country’s major cities are now investing in public
transport, and in particular metro rail schemes. At the same time, with
India projected to overtake China in the 2020s as the world’s fastest
growing economy and most populous nation, the country’s ageing rail
network is in major need of an upgrade to help sustain such economic
growth: it is currently running at full capacity, with freight and passenger
traffic constantly fighting each other for track space.
For these reasons, Balfour Beatty India's General Manager for Railways,
Anil Kumar, says he is confident about the future of rail investment in
India.
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Smart Planning Smart Implementation Smart Operations
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3. connect autumn 2012 15
“In the last decade there has been a major
focus on the roads sector, and the condition
of many roads is now as good as Europe,”
says Kumar. “The last decade was for the
roads, this decade is for the railways.”
Vision 2020
India’s renewed period of rail investment
kicked off in 2009 with the Railway
Ministry's Vision 2020 report. This planned
a radical overhaul of the country’s rail
network, with 25,000km of new lines to
be built by 2020, plus huge upgrades to
existing rail capacity (see Vision 2020 box).
Rather than being merely an aspirational
document, the Vision 2020 plans are being
backed up with government money, with
railways receiving more than £7 billion for
2012-13 alone.
Added to this, many of India's authorities
at the state and local levels have witnessed
the success of Delhi's first two phases of its
metro project in easing traffic congestion –
a huge problem for all urban centres – and
there are currently nine metro projects
either under construction or out to tender.
Growth potential
It was the rail sector's huge growth
potential in the coming decade, combined
with similarly striking opportunities in
the power
transmission sector, that prompted Balfour
Beatty Group to establish a local presence
and create Balfour Beatty India in August
2011.
Balfour Beatty's Operations Manager,
James Bennett, joined the Indian office
in January 2012. He says the rail market
is one where there is both plenty of
opportunity and one where a major
international player like Balfour Beatty,
with huge experience in rail projects
across the world, has something different
to offer clients.
“Railway construction and electrification
are areas where we have huge expertise
and experience in our traditional
markets,” says Bennett.
“We will bring added value engineering to
provide the most cost effective solutions.
We will use local labour and skills,
supported by our international expertise.”
Tata Joint Venture
As part of Balfour Beatty's strategy to
establish a presence in India, the Group
announced on 19 October 2012 that it
had entered into a joint venture with Tata
Projects, the contracting arm of industrial
giant Tata, to pursue urban infrastructure
projects in India.
“In the JV with Tata we are establishing
a business that focuses on the massive
growth in urban infrastructure, leveraging
each company's complimentary skills,"
says Bennett.
The recent Memorandum of
Understanding signed between
the Indian and British
Governments in relation
to urban
planning, redevelopment and renewal will
also pave the way positively for the JV.
Bennett adds that as well as
complimentary skills, Balfour Beatty also
opted to work with Tata for its core ethical
values, and commitment to improving
safety in line with Balfour Beatty's own
Zero Harm mandate.
Kumar says that health and safety
along with on-time delivery are areas
where Balfour Beatty aims to have a
transformational impact on the Indian
market.
“In the Indian construction industry
we want to change the time of delivery
standards, which are currently not very
good,” says Kumar.
“Balfour Beatty has the right credentials
to deliver projects on time in India, having
done it many times before on projects across
the world. We want to strengthen project
delivery standards, and we want to set the
safety standards for the industry too.”
Balfour Beatty India is currently bidding
to work as contractor on a number of
rail projects and three metro projects:
Calcutta Metro, Kochi Metro, and the
Navi – Mumbai Metro project.
16,500km
17million
passengers
4. 16 connect autumn 2012
MARKETS
Smart Planning Smart Implementation Smart Operations
Metro and freight projects
While the contracting arm makes its first steps into the Indian
rail market, the Group's professional services business, Parsons
Brinckerhoff, is already a well-established presence in the market. Its
Indian office has taken numerous design and project management
roles across a range of projects, including such major schemes as the
Delhi Metro and the Dedicated Freight Corridor (see box right).
Parsons Brinckerhoff's Indian Strategic Business Development
Director, Anindita Das Gupta, says the metro and dedicated
freight projects in particular represent not just much-needed relief
to congested roads and railway tracks, but are indicative of a
fundamental shift in India's landscape as it seeks to become one of
the planet's global economic superpowers.
“With the Metro projects, and especially Delhi, we see the
government trying to decentralise economic activity from city
centres,” says Das Gupta.
“Previously Delhi's main business centre was in central Delhi,
but it has now developed national capital regions outside Delhi –
satellite cities – where the businesses are being driven. It is difficult
for Delhi to provide adequate infrastructure such as utilities that
major modern businesses demand, and accommodation is very
expensive.”
Das Gupta adds that offices are being steadily moved out in
business clusters, with Delhi’s IT firms being the first to move out
to a satellite town.
On the freight side, meanwhile, Das Gupta anticipates new towns
and industrial centres springing up along what will become key
trade routes created by the Dedicated Freight Corridors.
These will run either side of the country, linking Delhi with major
port cities.
Current major projects
While Vision 2020 comprises chiefly of huge
amounts of upgrade works, from electrification
and new rolling stock to removal of level crossings,
there are also a number of major new routes being
built. In particular, there are nine metro projects
across the country at stages of development
ranging from tender stage to construction. These
include:
phase of an ambitious plan to build Delhi an entire
Metro network spanning 413km by the 2020s
with 20 underground and 16 elevated stations. The
line is due to be operational by the end of 2014
(Public Private Partnership) projects, the route spans
71km and includes 66 stations
Outside of metro schemes, India’s largest rail project is the
Dedicated Freight Corridor, which will upgrade freight
capacity across the country running along corridors east
and west of Delhi to India’s port cities and industrial
areas. The Western Corridor covers 1,483km and the
Eastern Corridor a further 1,839km.
High Speed Rail routes are also being considered. India’s
Ministry of Railways has appointed consultants to prepare
pre-feasibility studies on seven possible routes, of which it
hopes to build at least four as PPPs.
5. connect autumn 2012 17
DEUTSCH
Innerhalb der nächsten zehn Jahre ist zu erwarten, dass Indien China als die am
schnellsten wachsende Volkswirtschaft überholen wird und dass die Erweiterung und
Erneuerung der Schieneninfrastruktur des Landes essentiell ist, um dieses Wachstum
zu ermöglichen. Die indische Regierung plant eine Generalüberholung des Schienen-
netzes. Dabei sollen bis zum Jahr 2020 neue Strecken mit einer Gesamtlänge von
25.000 km gebaut sowie die existierenden Schienen in enormem Umfang ausgebaut
werden. Derzeit widmet sich ein Großteil der Aktivität den Planungen von
Bauvorhaben in Metropolregionen. Im Moment sind neun Projekte entweder im Bau
befindlich oder ausgeschrieben. Bei einigen dieser Metroprojekte sowie bei einer
Güterverkehrsstrecke, die sich durch das ganze Land zieht, übernimmt Parsons
Brinckerhoff Planungs- und Projektleitungsfunktionen, während das vor kurzem
gegründete Unternehmen Balfour Beatty India sich derzeit um mehrere ausgeschrie-
bene Großprojekte bewirbt.
ITALIANO
Entro il prossimo decennio, si prevede che l'India supererà la Cina come economia
con il più alto tasso di crescita al mondo e l'ampliamento e la riqualificazione della
propria infrastruttura ferroviaria sarà fondamentale per supportare tale crescita. Il
governo sta, infatti, pianificando una riforma radicale della rete ferroviaria del Paese,
con 25.000 Km di nuove linee da realizzarsi entro il 2020, oltre ad un’ampia
riqualificazione della rete ferroviaria esistente. La maggior parte delle attività ad oggi
in atto è incentrata sulla realizzazione di linee metropolitane, con nove progetti
attualmente in corso d'opera o in gara. Parsons Brinckerhoff si occupa della
progettazione e del project management di alcuni di questi progetti metropolitani,
nonché di una linea merci a livello nazionale; mentre Balfour Beatty India, di recente
costituzione, sta partecipando alle gare di appalto per alcune delle principali opere.
Vision 2020 – Opportunities in Indian RailIn 2009 India’s Ministry of Railways published its Vision 2020 report, proposing a radical upgrade and
extension of the country’s existing rail capacity, with 25,000km of new lines to be built by 2020. Budgets
are being adjusted accordingly, with railways receiving more than £7 billion of government funds for
2012-13 alone – the largest annual allocation yet. Targets included in Vision 2020:
lines on busy routes, substantial segregation on other routes, and electrification on busy trunk routes
double-line corridors