India’s 44-year old metro rail journey

It has been a long wait for metro rail in India. The first metro rail, in Kolkata, took 15 years for implementation. The project, which would become Asia’s only fifth metro rail system, was initiated in 1969 and the master plan was prepared in 1971. It envisaged a network of 97.5 km consisting of three north-south corridors. Construction work started in 1973-74. However, it wasn’t until October 24, 1984, that Kolkata Metro, as it is known, commenced operations on its first stretch between Esplanade and Bhowanipur.

India saw its second metro rail project after a gap of 14 years. The construction of Delhi Metro started in 1998 and was partially completed in 2002 with the opening of the first section on the Red Line. The project consisting of five lines with a total length of 125.67 km comprises 107 stations of which 17 are underground. The world-class Delhi Metro, which is still being implemented by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, has run six lines in nine years (2002-2011) with more than 200 trains covering about 70,000 km everyday on 190-km long metro corridors in Delhi. These numbers will only increase once another 140 km of new lines are added by 2016 under phase-III.

Meanwhile, over the years, Kolkata Metro has completed other stretches on the corridor that also included some extensions. The corridor was extended to New Garia in 2010. Two years earlier, the east-west corridor connecting Howrah Railway Station and Bidhannagar was sanctioned. However, this project is facing delays over issues like funding and land disputes. The scheduled date for completion of phase-I of this leg of the project (Salt Lake Sector-V to Sealdah) is April 2015 and that of phase-II (Entire Corridor) is October 2016.

The success of the Kolkata and Delhi metro rail has prompted other major cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad to opt for the metro rail system. In fact, the demand for this advanced mode of transportation is rising with Tier-2 cities also coming forward with similar proposals.

A brief look at some of the metro projects currently under construction:

Namma Metro: The construction work of the first elevated section from Byappanahalli to Cricket Stadium (7 km) in Bengaluru started in December 2006 and the stretch between Byappanahalli and M.G. Road was inaugurated on October 20, 2011. All the reaches under phase-I are nearing completion. In the first week of September 2013, the expenditure finance committee cleared Rs.26,405 crore for phase-II of the project.

Chennai Metro: Chennai Metro Rail, which is being built at an estimated cost of Rs.14,600 crore, will have two corridors—Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount and Washermenpet to Chennai Airport. Phase-1 of the project is scheduled for completion in financial year 2014-15. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa flagged off Chennai Metro Rail trail run at Koyambedu trial track on November 6. CMRL plans to conduct a trial run from Koyambedu to Alandur by next March so this stretch can become operational by mid-2014.

Hyderabad Metro: The project covering a network of 72 km across three corridors—Corridor I: Miyapur to LB Nagar, Corridor II: JBS to Falaknuma and Corridor III: Nagole to Shilparamam—is being taken up in six stages by the Andhra Pradesh government and the concessionaire, L&T Metro Rail (Hyderabad) Ltd. The first stretch of 8 km (stage-1) is expected to be completed by December 2014. The construction phase is scheduled to be completed by July 5, 2017.

Mumbai Metro: This is the first metro project awarded in the country on a PPP basis and entails design, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of a 12-km elevated metro with 12 stations en route the Versova-Andheri-Ghatkopar stretch. An SPV, Mumbai Metro One Pvt. Ltd, has been incorporated for the implementation of the project. Construction work is complete in all the stations from Versova to Ghatkopar and trial runs are being conducted every day. The line is expected to be open to public by the end of December. Phase-II & III are in various stages of implementation.

Jaipur Metro: The Pink City saw its trial run of Jaipur Metro at the newly constructed Mansarovar station on a 2.4-km track between Mansarovar and Shyam Nagar. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation completed the stretch in a record two-and-a-half years. The entire corridor (Phase-1A of the project), appropriately named as Pink Line, would comprise nine stations. The metro corridor is being built on standard gauge. Phase-IB of the project has been awarded to CEC, Taiwan, for construction.

The Jaipur Metro project is DMRC’s first metro construction project outside the National Capital Region which includes Delhi. Currently, DMRC is also executing the Kochi Metro project in Kerala on deposit terms, which will be a 25.253-km long corridor from Aluva to Petta. DMRC has also acted as consultant for almost all other metro projects being planned or executed in the country, including Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Ludhiana and Lucknow.

The other upcoming metro projects are Vizag Metro rail for which Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation is preparing the DPR; Lucknow Metro for which DMRC is again the interim consultant; and Nagpur, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Pune, Gurgaon and Noida-Greater Noida metro rail projects. The Government of India recently also approved the Assam metro project while Jammu & Kashmir has proposed a metro project for the northern state.