Category Archives: Transport

NATIONAL: Kolkata’s First Underwater Metro starts its trial run below bed of Hooghly

Tunnels under the bed of river Hooghly, running 32 metres below water level, are considered an engineering marvel; Metro station at Howrah too is deepest in the country; commercial services on the stretch expected to begin later this year .

Kolkata Metro on Wednesday achieved a new milestone when a Metro rake completed a journey under the bed of river Hooghly through a tunnel 32 metres below water level.  

“P. Uday Kumar Reddy, General Manager, Metro Railway, travelled from Mahakaran to Howrah Maidan station in Rake No. MR-612 to witness this historic event. This rake crossed river Hooghly at 11:55 hrs. H.N. Jaiswal Additional General Manager, Metro Railway and MD, KMRCL [Kolkata Metro Railway Corporation Limited] as well as other senior officers of Metro Railway and KMRCL accompanied him during this journey,” a press statement by Metro Railway, Kolkata said. General Manager Reddy offered puja at Howrah station once the Metro rake reached there, the statement added.

Describing the development as a “historic event’ Mr. Reddy informed that the trial runs from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade will be conducted for the next seven months and after that regular services on this stretch will begin. It is expected that commercial services on this stretch will begin this year. 

Two Metro rakes had been taken to Howrah Maidan station from Esplanade station, for the trial runs along the 4.8-km underground section from Howrah Maidan to Esplanade. Tunnels under the bed of river Hooghly, 32 metres below the water level, are considered an engineering marvel and are part of East West Metro Project that aims to connect Howrah Maidan with Rajarhat along the 16.6-km route. The process of laying the tunnel was completed in 2017. The underwater tunnels will connect Kolkata and Howrah with a Metro station at Howrah which will be the deepest Metro station (33 metres below surface) of the country. The Metro is expected to cover the 520-metre stretch under the river Hooghly in a span of 45 seconds.

At present about 9.1 km of the East West Metro line from Salt Lake Sector V to Sealdah is operational. Services of East West Metro Railway was started in phases with first phase in February 2020 and the latest in July 2022.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: DEFENCE: NAVAL HISTORY: India’s 01st Indigenous Aircraft Carrier, INS VIKRANT Receives Historic Bell of 01st Warship from former Navy Vice Chief

The bell had been placed on the first INS Vikrant, commissioned in 1961, for almost 36 years and had been part of a rich history.

India’s first indigenous aircraft carrier – the INS Vikrant – was last month handed over a bell that was once installed on the first carrier with the same name, commissioned in 1961.

The bell had been placed on the original ‘INS Vikrant’ for almost 36 years after India bought a British-origin aircraft carrier HMS Hercules and renamed it.

Now-retired Vice Admiral SN Ghormade decided to return the bell on March 22 to motivate India’s youth about the rich history of their ship and the Indian Navy.

The first INS Vikrant carrier was decommissioned in 1997 and the bell was removed and placed at the designated residence of Indian Navy Vice Chief 5, Motilal Nehru Marg.

Navy officials believe that traditionally bells have played an important role on a warship and this special one has been part of a rich history as it was on the warship when it played a key role in enforcing the naval blockade of East Pakistan during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.

The warship was active during the wars fought by India against Pakistan and was deployed at key locations to further the security of the nation.

The new indigenous INS Vikrant was commissioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kochi on September 2, 2022.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: SPACE /SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: 11 Teams to Represent India at the ‘NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge 2023’ in the U.S this month.

At the NASA Rover Challenge 2023 these teams will compete against 61 others selected worldwide for the 3-day contest to be held from April 20-22.

11 Indian teams including three high school groups will participate in the prestigious ‘NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge’ (HERC) 2023 in the  United States this month. These teams are among 61 others worldwide that will represent India at the international level and will travel to the American agency’s space & rocket centre in Huntsville, Alabama, US to take part in the three day competition from April 20-22.

The HERC Challenge demands teams to design, develop, build, and test human-powered rovers capable of traversing challenging terrain and a task tool for completion of various mission tasks, NASA explained, giving an overview about the competition.

The list of Indian teams participating this year:

Amity University, Noida, Uttar PradeshCollege/University
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, Pilani, RajasthanCollege/University
Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Chennai, Tamil NaduCollege/University
KIET Group of Institutions, Ghaziabad, Uttar PradeshCollege/University
Prayatna Charitable Trust, Ahmedabad, GujaratHigh School
Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh, PunjabCollege/University
Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar PradeshCollege/University
Tec Mantra Labs, Kurukshetra, HaryanaHigh School
Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, Tamil NaduCollege/University
Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil NaduCollege/University
Young Tinker Educational Foundation, Bhubaneswar, OdishaHigh School

Of these, VIT, Vellore, Chennai, HITS, Chennai, BITS Pilani, Rajasthan and Amity Noida, KIET Group of Institutions, Uttar Pradesh featured in the 2022 challenge as well.

Releasing a list of selected teams in October last year(full list here), NASA announced that these teams would be judged based on their ability to design and assemble a rover to traverse a course of approximately half-mile that includes 10 obstacles and 5 tasks with a simulated field of asteroid debris, boulders, erosion ruts, crevasses, and an ancient streambed. “As part of the competition, rover entries are tested to ensure they would fit into a lander storage area, a maximum 5 feet long by 5 feet tall by 5 feet in volume,” NASA said.

The weight and time criteria encourages teams to build their vehicles around its compactness, light weight, high performance, and efficiency. Teams must make real-time decisions on mission objectives – what to attempt or leave behind, driven by limited virtual oxygen supply lasting 8 minutes. The teams earn points on successful completion of these tasks and the one with the highest number of points throughout the project wins the game in each category (high school/college and universities).

Even though Indian teams did not win the overall prize in either category last year, the students are hopeful for international recognition with larger participation this year.

Akanksha Das, a member of one of the participating teams, Young Tinker Educational Foundation, expressing her enthusiasm about the contest, told news agency ANI, “…We sent a proposal to Nasa and they accepted our proposal and we followed all the guidelines. We created a lightweight Rover. In the last edition we got world rank 3, this year we hope to bring 1st position in world rank.”

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: INDIA GLOBAL: AUTOMOBILE:  TVS Motor Company arm to buy 25% stake in Germany’s Killwatt GmbH

The shares are acquired at cash consideration of €235.29/share, translating to a total of nearly €2 mn or ₹18 cr.

TVS Motor Company on Tuesday said its Singapore-based arm will acquire a 25 per cent stake in Germany-based electric mobility products and components start-up Killwatt GmbH.

TVS Motor (Singapore) Pte Ltd, has agreed to acquire a 25 per cent stake in Killwatt GmbH by way of newly issued shares of the latter, amounting to 8,500 common equity shares, the company said in a regulatory filing. The shares are acquired at cash consideration of €235.29 per share, translating to a total of nearly €2 million (nearly ₹18 crore).

Killwatt’s business comprises development, design, manufacture, sale and distribution of high-tech products and components in the field of electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler vehicles, it added.

“Killwatt presents great potential which has been conceptualised by the company. This acquisition is aligned with our larger vision of becoming a leading player in the e-personal mobility space and providing our customers with sustainable mobility solutions, and it complements our other recent acquisitions,” TVS Motor Company said.

The company considers Killwatt as a long-term partner to establish a strong presence in the e-mobility business, it added.

TVS Motor recorded a 1.97 per cent decline in sales in February with 2,76,150 units sold. The company had sold 2,81,714 units during the corresponding month of last year.

source/content: thehindubusinessline.com (headline edited)

WORLD RECORD: TRANSPORTATION INFRASTRUCTURE: World’s Tallest Pier Railway Bridge to be part of Jiribam-Imphal railway project

The world’s tallest pier railway bridge, with a height of 141 metres, is being constructed as part of the Jiribam-Imphal railway project.

The world’s tallest pier railway bridge, with a height of 141 metres, is being constructed as part of the Jiribam-Imphal railway project which has already achieved physical progress of 93.30 per cent, officials said on Sunday.

With the completion of the 111-km-long Jiribam-Imphal railway project by December this year, Manipur capital would come onto the Indian Railways network, making Imphal the fourth capital city in the northeastern region to have a rail link.

Northeast Frontier Railway’s (NFR) Chief Public Relations Officer Sabyasachi De said that the Rs 14,322 crore project is one of the crucial connectivity projects for the northeastern region and it is at an advanced stage of completion.

He said that construction of the railway project involves multiple tunnels and bridges in tough terrain with the total length of tunnels in this project being 61.32 km, out of which 59.11 km of tunneling work has already been completed.

The project would have total 11 major bridges and 137 minor bridges, out of which work for five major bridges and 101 minor bridges have been completed so far.

The section from Jiribam to Khongsang has already been commissioned earlier for train service.

After completion of the entire project, the present road journey time of about 10 hours to reach Imphal from Jiribam would be reduced to 2.5 hours by railways.

The NFR has been putting their full effort by working 24X7 for the completion of this project dealing with all the challenges including heavy rainfall and other logistic hindrances, De said.

The CPRO said that the Jiribam-Imphal rail project would provide enhanced connectivity to the people of Manipur, help grow small scale industries in the area and boost tourism of the state.

It would also help in receiving essential commodities faster by the state and help the state local producers to export their products outside the state faster.

The economy of the state would receive a boost, the official stated.

Assam’s main city of Guwahati (adjoining capital Dispur), Tripura capital Agartala and Arunachal Pradesh’s Naharlagun (adjacent to capital city Itanagar) are already on the railway network.

source/content: maritimegetaway.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: INDUSTRY / INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) invites Industries to Develop 100 Technologies and Products

Interested parties were advised to submit their proposals by April 17.

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) called upon Indian industries to develop 100 technologies and products, which will be required for its launch vehicles, satellites, application sectors, human space flight, and space exploration.

Inviting an Expression of Interest (EoI) from prospective industries towards self-reliance in development of technologies, products, systems for Indian space programmes, the space agency has listed 100 technologies and products.

The list includes design, realisation and flight testing of sub-scale Hybrid Drone Prototype for DroneNet, development of a Head Mount Display (HMD) for Gaganyaan crew for providing situational awareness, space debris surveillance and tracking radar, urban flooding surveillance system using multi-radar and sensor network.

ISRO is pursuing multidisciplinary R&D programmes related to its major verticals — space transportation, space infrastructure, space applications, ground systems and human space exploration.

The EoI states: “Currently, ISRO is in the need of developing certain potential technologies/ products/ systems for its programmes in a time-bound manner. In this context, an invitation for Expression of Interest (EoI) is hereby floated to identify suitable Indian industries for the development of identified technologies/ products/ systems in a time-bound manner.”

The main objective of this EoI is to engage eligible Indian industries to develop the technologies, products, systems for space programmes of ISRO.

Prospective industries were advised to submit their proposals by April 17.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: SATELLITES & SPACE: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Successfully Launches 36 Satellites for UK-based OneWeb

This batch of 36 satellites by the UK-based OneWeb will be its 18th launch to date, its third this year and the second with ISRO.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Sunday successfully launched the second batch of 36 satellites for the UK-based OneWeb.

“We have lift off! Thanks to our colleagues at @isro and @NSIL_India for a successful launch. If you don’t already, make sure to follow us for more updates throughout the rest of the mission,” OneWeb tweeted at 9.04am on Sunday.

This batch of satellites by the UK-based company will be its 18th launch to date, its third this year and the second with ISRO. This will also complete the company’s first-generation LEO (low earth orbit) constellation, enabling the company to initiate global coverage in 2023.

HT on March 6 reported about ISRO’s plan to launch the second batch of OneWeb’s satellites on March 26.

On February 16, these 36 satellites reached India from the US for their launch. On March 15, the satellites were also encapsulated.

The communications satellites were launched by ISRO’s Launch Vehicle Mark-III (LVM3). In October last year, the Indian space agency successfully launched the first set of 36 satellites by OneWeb from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, marking the rocket’s entry into the global commercial launch service market.

A week after that, ISRO successfully conducted the flight acceptance hot test of the CE-20 engine in the high-altitude test facility of its propulsion complex at Tamil Nadu’s Mahendragiri for 25 seconds for the second batch of satellites that are expected to be placed on low earth orbit.

After its first launch, OneWeb had said that its partnership with NSIL and ISRO demonstrated its commitment to provide connectivity across the length and breadth of India by 2023.

ISRO’s LVM3 rocket is capable of launching four-tonne class of satellites to geosynchronous transfer orbit. It is a three-stage vehicle with two solid motor strapons, a liquid propellant core stage and a cryogenic stage. The OneWeb satellites will be placed in orbit at an altitude of 1,200km above the earth’s surface.

“This mission marks OneWeb’s second satellite deployment from India, highlighting the collaboration between the UK and Indian space industries. Across India, OneWeb will bring secured solutions not only to enterprises but also to towns, villages, municipalities and schools, including the hardest-to-reach areas across the country,” the company said last week.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: AVIATION: 67 Foreign Pilots Employed by Indian Airlines: Govt informs Parliament

According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), there are around 10,000 pilots including 67 foreign nationals employed with various airlines of India.

As many as 67 foreign pilots are employed by different Indian airlines, the government said on Thursday.

This development comes two days after the civil aviation ministry said there was a shortage of pilots forcing them to allow airlines to hire foreign pilots.

“According to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), there are around 10,000 pilots including 67 foreign nationals employed with various airlines of India,” Dr Gen VK Singh (Retd), minister of state (Mos) for civil aviation, stated in a written reply to Kanimozhi Karunanidhi of DMK.

According to industry projections, there may be a need for 1000 pilots per annum in India over the next five years, Singh said.

“The annual requirement of commercial pilots depends upon various factors such as financial health of an airline, airline expansion plan and growth in the aviation sector,” he added.

Singh stated that 15% of pilots in India are women which is almost three times the global average of 5%. He, however pointed out that currently, there is no special program in the government to encourage pilot training for women and backward classes including SC/STs.

“There are 35 DGCA approved flight training organisations (FTOs) in India operating at 53 bases,” he said.

He also said that data from the Indian scheduled airlines showed that a total of 244 pilots were recruited in 2021 and as on March 1 this year, a total of 15,896 regular officials are employed in Airports Authority of India (AAI) posted across various airports and stations.

In yet another response, Singh stated that the air traffic data for 2022-23 is estimated to be 12.3 million.

Meanwhile, civil aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal had, on Tuesday, stated that the demand of Boeing 777 aircraft pilots is such that for the first time, after years, the government is allowing Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorization (FATA) pilots.

“Normally we don’t allow foreign pilots. But currently there is demand but there is no skilled competency available. I would go to the extent of saying that this demand has happened since the Air India privatisation took place a year ago. That is why, today we don’t have any Boeing 777 aircraft pilots available in the country and hence we are resorting to taking foreign pilots for a short time” he had said speaking in an aviation summit organised by CAPA India.

source/content: hindustantimes.com (headline edited)

REGIONAL: NATIONAL RECORD: SPORT / CYCLING: National Institute of Mountaineering & Adventure Sports (NIMAS) Team Creates Record Cycling 5,374 kms in 37 days across 6 South East Nations

The team commenced the expedition from Hanoi in Vietnam and culminated it at Indian National Army (INA) Memorial in Singapore, a Defence Ministry statement said.

A team of four officers posted at the National Institute of Mountaineering & Adventure Sports (NIMAS), Dirang in Arunachal Pradesh, created a national record in cycling by covering 5,374 kms in 37 days across six South East Asian nations.

“The team commenced the expedition from Hanoi in Vietnam and culminated it at Indian National Army (INA) Memorial in Singapore. It was carried out in extreme weather conditions where the team members cycled on an average of 9-10 hours a day,” a Defence Ministry statement said. Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt flagged-in the team on Wednesday.

The team led by Col. Ranveer Singh Jamwal, Director, NIMAS, had undertaken the first-ever cycling expedition in six South East Asian Nations — Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore — from January 16, 2023 to March 06, 2023, the statement said. On March 3, they were felicitated by High Commissioner of India to Singapore P. Kumaran.

On the extreme weather conditions, a team member said, “Vietnam was cold, Laos and Cambodia were hot, Thailand and Malaysia were humid while monsoon welcomed us in Singapore.”

Most of the cycles broke down in Laos and Cambodia while in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia the team faced challenges in terms of language and food, he stated. The team was welcomed by Indian population in Malaysia and Singapore.

The team visited over 10 monuments and memorials and interacted with the heroes of Azad Hind Fauj, revisiting the stories of sacrifice and bravery of the INA, the statement said adding that they also scaled the highest peak of Vietnam Mount Fansipan (3,143m).

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL / NATIONAL: Exercise Desert Flag VIII: For the First time, India’s Indigenously-made Light Combat Aircraft ‘LCA Tejas’ to take part in a Global Air Exercise

An IAF contingent comprising of 110 Air Warriors arrived at the Al Dahfra air base in the UAE to participate in the exercise, in which five LCA Tejas and two C-17 Globemaster III aircraft would take part, the IAF said Saturday.

For the first time, India’s indigenously-made light combat aircraft Tejas will be participating in an international multilateral air exercise — Exercise Desert Flag VIll — in the UAE, reflecting India’s increasing efforts at showcasing the jet at the world stage.

An Indian Air Force contingent comprising of 110 Air Warriors arrived at the Al Dahfra airbase of the United Arab Emirates to participate in the exercise, in which five LCA Tejas and two C-17 Globemaster III aircraft would take part, the IAF said Saturday. The exercise is scheduled from 27 February to 17 March.

“This is the first occasion when the LCA Tejas shall participate in an international flying exercise outside India,” the IAF said in a statement.

As per the IAF, Exercise Desert Flag is a multilateral air exercise which will see participation from the air forces of the UAE, France, Kuwait, Australia, the UK, Bahrain, Morocco, Spain, Republic of Korea, and the US.

“The aim of the exercise is to participate in diverse fighter engagements and learn from the best practices of various air forces,” the IAF said.

India has been in talks with several countries to export LCA Tejas, including Argentina and Egypt. India was also hopeful of selling the platform to Malaysia, but the country has signed a deal with Korean Aerospace Industries for supply of 18 FA-50 light combat aircraft.

The aircraft had earlier participated in air shows at Singapore, Malaysia, Bahrain and Dubai.

The LCA Mk 2, which got a cabinet approval last year, has evinced interest from nearly 16 countries and efforts are on to identify private agencies to speed up the production of the jet.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)