URBAN RAIL TRANSIT IN INDIA

Urban rail transit in India plays an important role in intracity transportation in the major cities which are highly populated.

Looking into the HISTORY of urban rail transit in India ,

The first-ever mode of the urban rail transit system in India was commuter rail (or suburban rail), built-in Mumbai on 16 April 1853. This was India's first suburban rail.

In September 1919, during a session of the Imperial Legislative Council at Shimla, a committee was set up by W. E. Crum that recommended a metro line for Kolkata. It was 23 years later when the foundation was laid in Kolkata in 1972 to commence the construction of the ambitious metro system. On 24 October 1984, India saw its first metro system operational in Kolkata. After several struggles and bureaucratic hurdles, a stretch of 3.4 km was opened with five stations on the line. On 1 November 1995, the Chennai MRTS began its operations, becoming the first elevated railway line in India and also the country's longest elevated mass rapid transit corridor spanning 17 km.

In 1911, the capital of India was moved from Kolkata to Delhi. This created a massive urban sprawl, which boosted the city's population by many folds. The first concept of an urban rapid transit system came out in 1969 when a traffic and travel characteristics study was conducted. After then, a proposal was made in 1984, which revealed plans for constructing three underground corridors and augmentation the existing suburban rail system. The construction began on 1 October 1998 and the first line was operational on 24 December 2002. With 348.12 kilometres, the Delhi Metro went on to be the longest and by far the busiest metro system in India.

Coming to the PRESENT day, According to a report published in 2021, a total of 2,636 million people travel annually in metro systems across India's thirteen major cities, placing the country as one of the busiest urban rapid transit hubs in the world in terms of ridership. The combined length of 750.50 kilometres of metro systems in India makes it the fifth-longest in the world in operation.

Following the grand success of the Delhi Metro, India soon had its first metro system operate in southern India in the form of the Namma Metro of Bengaluru, which aimed at solving the massive traffic problems in the city. Later in the following decade, several metro systems began to spring up in the major cities, expanding the number of such systems to thirteen in the country.

India started the 2020s decade by setting a new world record by building the fastest metro system in the form of the Kanpur Metro, which was inaugurated on 28 December 2021, just two years after the commencement of construction. Pune Metro soon followed Kanpur with its initial two lines being flagged off in March 2022, taking the number of metros in the state of Maharashtra to three.

The backbone of this build-up is MANUFACTURING There are three metro rolling stock manufacturers in India under the Union Government's Make in India program, 75% of the rolling stock procured for use on Indian metro systems is required to be manufactured in India.

Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML) : BEML is a Bengaluru-based Public Sector Undertaking company that manufactures mining equipment, heavy engineering as well as metro rail coaches. It manufactures Rolling Stock consortium with Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and Rotem. It also manufacturers EMU train sets for a suburban railway.

Delhi Metro – 1,184 coaches

Hyderabad Metro – 171 coaches

Namma Metro – 150 coaches

Kolkata Metro (Green Line) – 84 coaches

Jaipur Metro – 40 coaches

Mumbai Metro (Red & Yellow Line) – 378 coaches

Bombardier India: Bombardier (Now, Alstom India) built a £26m factory in Savli, Gujarat after it won a contract to supply 614 cars to the Delhi Metro. Production at Savli began in June 2009. In June 2012, the plant won an order to supply semi-finished bogies to Australia. In July 2020, Bombardier won a contract to supply 201 coaches along with the train control & signalling system for the Kanpur and Agra metro projects with an extremely tight deadline of just 65 Weeks. Bombardier was acquired by Alstom on 29 January 2021.

Delhi Metro – 816 Coaches

Agra & Kanpur Metro – 201 Coaches

Mumbai Metro (Green Line) – 234 Coaches

Alstom India: In 2013, Alstom built a factory in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh after it won a €243 million contract to supply 168 cars to the Chennai Metro. The 156-acre plant will be used to supply trains to cities in India and abroad. It also provides signalling & telecommunications systems.

Chennai Metro – 208 coaches

Lucknow Metro – 80 coaches

Kochi Metro – 75 coaches

Mumbai Metro (Aqua Line) – 248 coaches

Integral Coach Factory (ICF): Integral Coach Factory manufactures rolling stock (under Kolkata Urban Transit). ICF has manufactured "Medha Rakes" and is in the process of supplying them to various suburban systems.

Kolkata Metro (Blue, Purple & Yellow Line) – 456 coaches

Titagarh Fireman: In 2019, Titagarh Fireman is a Titagarh-based Rolling stock manufacturing company. It is part of a Titagarh Group.

Pune Metro – 102 coaches

Medha Servo Drive Pvt Ltd:

In 2017, Medha Servo Drive planned to invest ₹ 8,000 million in the metro rail coach factory in Telangana. In 2021, it got a contract to supply 10 rakes for Mumbai Monorail worth 590 crores INR.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited(BHEL), along with ICF manufactured metro rakes for Kolkata back in the 1980s. It also manufacturers EMU rakes for suburban train systems.

What do we strive towards, is a better FUTURE

With the major cities already having a metro rail transport system, shortly, more metro rail transport systems are likely to get developed in other cities as well. The more direct and free-flowing mechanism is likely to get adopted, but such a free-flowing mechanism would also require a secure backup system, which needs to be established, for its efficient functioning of it. The engines are likely to get improved thereby covering more distance in a shorter period. There may also arise a situation, 50 years later, the metro rail network is privatized to ensure better service, just as in the aviation sector. In such a scenario, prices of commutation are likely to get higher as services are likely to be more comforting.

Sonali Ghode (BMSCE)