Metro Rail Projects: Benefits and Challenges

Metro Rail has proved to be one of the most desirable infrastructures for the cities. The National Metro Rail Policy 2017 specifies that all cities with over 20 lakh population could look for Mass Rapid Transit Systems (MRTS). Among the various modes of MRTS, the metro rail has shown considerable rise in popularity among Indian cities.

While the first metro rail in the country was the Kolkata Metro commissioned in October 1984 (Esplanade to Bhowanipur, 3.4 kms), it took 18 years for the country to see the next one, when the Delhi Metro (First Part of Phase-1, Shahdara to Tis Hazari, 8.1 kms) started operating in December 2002. However, the success of the Delhi Metro became a game changer and the subsequent 18 years, from 2002 to 2020, witnessed swift growth in the number of cities that have gotten metro rail projects approved, of which many have started operating as well. As of December 2020, as many as 13 cities have operating Metros covering 678.48 kms and these are in Ahmedabad (6 kms), Bengaluru (42.3 kms), Chennai (45.1 kms), Delhi (347 kms), Gurugram (12.1 kms), Hyderabad (67 kms), Jaipur (11.98 kms), Kochi (25 kms), Kolkata (35.1 kms), Lucknow (22.9 kms), Mumbai (11.4 kms), Nagpur (22.9 kms), and Noida (29.7 kms).
These 13 cities are shortly going to add about 500 kms of new lines that are under construction. Another 8 cities have their first Metro projects under construction, and these include Agra, Bhopal, Indore, Kanpur, Meerut, Navi Mumbai, Patna and Pune, to be completed in 2021/2022. Many more cities are pursuing to get their first metro projects approved in the coming years, including Coimbatore, Dehradun, Gorakhpur, Guwahati, Jammu, Kozhikode, Prayagraj, Srinagar, Thiruvananthapuram, Varanasi, Vijayawada, and Vishakhapatnam.

Benefits of metro rail systems

Mass Rapid Transit systems such as the Metro Rail facilitate quick, safe and easy movement of people and promote economic activities, social equity, and an enhanced quality of life for the people. Owing to the possibility of seamlessly traversing underground, over ground (viaducts) or at-grade (on surface), the metro rail system connects congested areas with the rest of the city, thus allowing dissipation of the congestion as people reduce the usage of personal transport like cars. An example is the reach of the Delhi Metro to the dense area of Chandni Chowk. In the process, the Metro Rail eases the traffic congestion on the roads. Delhi Metro provides over 50 lakh passenger journeys per day, which otherwise would have crowded the city roads tremendously. Concomitantly, the incidents of traffic accidents also get reduced substantially.
On the economic side, MRTS facilitate equalisation of property values across their influence zone. Small businesses and start-ups can extend the forward and backward linkages far more efficiently, through the MRTS. At the same time, MRTS enhances the overall economic activity and enables less influential segment of the society to participate in the growing economic activities. For instance, women can reach jobs that are at a greater distance, as metro would provide them safe and quick mode of travel between home and work place.
Safety in commutation that the MRTS provides benefits not only women but also other vulnerable sections such as the elderly and the physically disabled persons. All metro projects are expected to provide suitable access arrangements at the stations and coaches for the persons with disability (PwD) and separate coaches earmarked for female commuters. The student population is yet another major beneficiary of the metro.
MRTS also provides a huge scope for transit-oriented development (TOD). The residential, commercial and leisure spaces are created within walking distance of the metro stations, which reduces the need for using personal transport considerably. In the TOD framework, metro stations could be developed into a hub for shopping complexes, hotels, cafes, multiplexes, etc. This makes the commutation much easier for the citizens and improves the financial viability of the metro project.

Challenges for a metro project

While the Metro Rail Systems have come to define the cities’ growth and development, they also come with certain challenges that the city and their residents need to handle to ensure a more holistic benefit. For instance, the widespread network of concrete viaducts tends to distort the skyline and the city’s urban form. This can be addressed by taking the metro underground, even though the per kilometre cost would significantly increase.
Another challenge is that land acquisition disturbs many people’s livelihoods, especially of low and middle-income groups. This often becomes the source of agitation and unrest from those who lose their land and could slow down the project. Moreover, urban lands are costly. The construction phase disturbs the peace and tranquillity of the residents. Taking the metro underground reduces the need for land acquisition and reduces the people’s inconvenience during construction.
Cost of the metro projects itself offers a big challenge, being of the order of `300 crore per kilometre. Therefore, the metro should be taken up after a careful viability study. A bus-based system (BRTS) should be given serious consideration, where the metro is unviable. Simultaneously, as the metro enhances the property values and boosts up the economic activities, it consequently enhances the revenues of the governments at various levels. Such growth in the revenue receipts should be utilised to fund the metro projects as per the Tax Increment Financing Model. This model enables garnering funds for the infrastructure projects without necessarily raising the tax rates. For instance, the guidance value of the property, if updated regularly, would result in additional revenue. Similarly, the land use in the influence zone of the MRTS/Metro could be changed, wherever possible, to mixed land use, which would give a boost to the local economy, besides giving additional revenue by way of development charges.

Conclusion

Metro rail systems are an excellent infrastructure for the growth and development of large cities and their residents. No doubt they come with many challenges, but those are surmountable with careful planning and management. Handled suitably, metro rails can give a great
boost to the city’s social and
economic profile.