16th UMI Conference & Expo 2023 concludes in Manekshaw Centre

NEW DELHI: 16th Urban Mobility India (UMI) Conference & Exhibition 2023, which was organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) through the Institute of Urban Transport (IUT) supported by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, culminated with the concluding remarks of Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA. The conference, on the theme “Integrated and Resilient Urban Transport”, was earlier inaugurated by Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India.

Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India, inaugurated the UMI conference, which was held on 27-29 October in the Manekshaw Centre, Delhi Cantonment. Minister Puri addressed the conference, where he spoke about the challenges faced by urban transport at length. He also spoke about some of the initiatives introduced by the government to facilitate seamless, convenient and sustainable urban transport, including the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), Vande Bharat Trains, FAMEI, FAME-II, PM-eBus Seva Scheme, National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) based Automatic Fare Collection System (AFCS), charging infrastructure, etc under Green Urban Mobility Initiatives.

Minister also spoke about the expansion of the metro rail network in India. He highlighted that in 2014, metro was operational in 248 kilometres, which has increased to 895 kilometres, spread over 20 different cities in India in 2023. He said, “I am happy to note that the metro network has a daily ridership of around 1 crore”. He added that India’s metro network is the third largest in the world, and in the coming 2-3 years, it will surpass USA to become the second largest metro network in the world.

Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA, Pradeep Singh Kharola, Chairman and Managing Director, India Trade Promotion Organisation, and Vikas Kumar, Managing Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd, were also present in the inaugural ceremony along with the Minister Puri.

The conference also included an exhibition where 22 exhibitors from Metro Rail companies, public and private sectors, including National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), Uttar Pradesh Metro Rail Corporation (UPMRC), National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC), Pune Metro, etc., displayed the latest transport technologies and best practices in the field of urban transport in India and abroad.

The event encompasses various conclaves, technical sessions, roundtables and research symposiums where national and international industry experts and government officials deliberated upon some of the pressing urban transport challenges before and their possible solutions under the theme “Integrated and Resilient Urban Transport”.

Transit Oriented Development (TOD), citizen-centric public transport systems and last-mile connectivity inculcating the elements of sustainability, inclusivity and digitalisation were some of the key focus areas of the various panel discussions. “Gender Mainstreaming in Urban Mobility”, “Financial Sustainability of Mass Transit Projects”, “Institutional and Governance Frameworks for E-Mobility Action” and “Policy Intervention for Clean Energy Transition in Transportation” were some of the themes which were discussed at length along with “Shaping the Future of Mobility with Digitalization”, “Travel demand/Transport Planning”, and “India’s Roadmap of Action towards Decarbonizing Transportation”.

Later on the third and final day of the event, Manoj Joshi, Secretary, MoHUA, addressed the gathering in the valedictory session, where he summarised the discussion held over three days of the conference. In his address, Joshi emphasised the need for TOD and the importance of convenient and efficient payment mechanisms such as the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC). He said that NCMC holds immense potential that could bring about a paradigm shift in interoperability amongst various modes of urban transport.

During the valedictory session, awards were presented to state/city authorities who won various categories.