NEED FOR URBAN
MASS RAPID TRANSPORT SYSTEM FOR OUR CITIES
E.
Sreedharan*
Urban population
in India has been growing at a rapid pace. While the country’s
population increased from 361 million in 1951 to 1027 million
in 2001, the urban population increased from 62 million to 285
million during the same period. Thus the percentage of urban population
to the population of the country went up from 17.2 per cent in
1951 to 27.8 per cent in 2001. The number of cities with population
of one million and above steadily increased from 5 in 1951 to
35 in 2001. Out of these, 2 cities have populations between 3
million and 5 million each and 6 cities more than 5 million each.
The urban areas
are engines of growth, creating skills and wealth for the nation
and generate employment for the millions of migrants from the
rural areas. In 1950-51, the contribution of urban India to the
net domestic product of the country was only 29 per cent. As per
the present economic trends it is likely to have gone up to about
65 per cent by now. Thus less than one-third of the country’s
population is contributing about two-thirds of its net domestic
product. For the same investment in basic services, a large segment
of society can be covered in the urban than in the rural areas.
Scenario
Mobility is a crucial
aspect for the economic growth of any urban area. Economic activities
such as trade, commerce and industries flourish in areas where
accessibility is good and mobility fast and unruffled. Urban transport
infrastructure facilities and services are thus amongst the most
important factors of the urban economy. Urban development takes
place around such activity generators. Substantial contribution
to city efficiency is possible only when the people and materials
are transported at the minimal investment and operating cost.
Thus an able, adequate and efficient transport system permits
cities and towns to become catalysts for economic, social and
industrial development.
Today the mass transportation
in our cities is primarily by roads except that rail-based transport
services exist in the metropolitan cities of Mumbai, Chennai and
Kolkata. The Indian Railways is operating Electric Multiple Unit
(EMU) suburban trains in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai to carry
commuter traffic from suburbs to the cities. In Delhi, only skeleton
suburban rail services exist and buses are almost the only means
of public transport.
EMU services have
a significant role in Mumbai. In fact, these services are today
the life-line of Mumbai. Kolkata, apart from its suburban rail
services, has a 16.5-km long metro rail line which is being further
extended. Tram services are also operating in Kolkata. In Chennai,
besides the suburban rail services, there is an 8.5-km long rapid-transit
system from Beach to Luz which is also being further extended.
In Delhi a 62 km long metro rail network is under construction
and is scheduled to be completed by 2005. The first 8.5 km long
Shahdara - Tis Hazari section of this network was commissioned
in December, 2002. Kolkata and Kochi can also boast of a fairly
well organized ferry system which contributes to mass transportation.
Importance
Public transport
system is an efficient user of space and energy with a reduced
level of air and noise pollution. As the population of the city
grows, the share of public transport, road or rail-based, increases.
For a city with populations of one to two million, the share of
public transport should be between 50 per cent and 60 per cent,
for cities with population of 2 to 5 million between 60 per cent
and 75 per cent and for cities with a population of over 5 million
between 75 per cent to 80 per cent. As against this the corresponding
figures of the present modal split in favour of public transport
in our cities is 30 per cent, 42 per cent and 63 per cent respectively.
Besides, the existing modal split in favour of public transport
is showing signs of decline due to inadequate augmentation of
the public transport system, resulting in an excessive increase
in the number of personal vehicles. This trend needs to be reversed.
Whether the public
transport system on a corridor in the city should be road-based
or rail-based will depend primarily on the traffic density during
the peak hours on the corridor. Experience has shown that in mixed
traffic conditions, comprising slow and fast-moving traffic prevailing
in most of our cities, road buses can optimally carry 10,000 peak
hour peak direction trips (phpdt). When traffic density on a corridor
exceeds 10,000 phpdt, the average speed of buses comes down, journey
time increases, air pollution goes up, and commuters are put to
increased levels of inconvenience. Thus, when on a corridor, traffic
density during peak hours crosses this figure, provision of rail-based
mass transport should be considered. In any case, rail-based mass
transport may become inescapable if the traffic density on a corridor
reaches 20,000 phpdt.
Systems
The rail-based public
transport system in the cities can be brought mainly under 3 categories.
In tramways the vehicles ply on rails but share the right of way
with other road vehicles. Tramways have very limited capacity.
They are slow but cause no pollution. Because of their limited
carrying capacity they are now being preferred only in affluent
towns where the travel demand is not very high. Very rarely, dedicated
tramway paths are possible where the roads are wider. If tramways
are at level, they clash with other surface transport systems
at junctions and crossings.
Buses could be petrol,
diesel or CNG-driven or trolley buses with energy drawn from overhead
electric wires. In the latter case, buses have to observe a lot
of discipline in regard to carriage-way and roads they have to
follow. It has been the experience the world over that a road-based
system can cope with traffic demand levels of upto 12000 phpdt
only.
Another mass urban
transport system being talked about these days is the sky bus.
In this system coaches suspended from elevated guideways are operated.
The elevated guideways are provided on piers erected in the middle
of the road. The system has not been implemented anywhere so far
and, therefore, experience on it is not available.
Rail
Rail-based transport
systems need dedicated right-of-way. They can be brought under
two categories. One is intra-urban and the other suburban. Each
has its own specific roles and characteristics. Sometimes in rare
cases inter-running between the two systems is also achieved.
Usually they function as complementary to each other with suitable
points of interchange for the commuters. These rail-based systems
can carry a very high volume of commuters, even up to 75,000 phpdt.
The intra-urban systems which are generally referred to as metro
systems are either underground or elevated. The suburban systems
are mainly on grade as right-of-way on the surface is feasible
only on the outskirts of the cities.
Road-Based
Mass Transport
The area covered
by roads in our cities is limited. While for a modern city the
ratio of road area to the total area should be about 25 per cent,
in Kolkata this ratio is less than 6 per cent, in Mumbai about
11 per cent, in Chennai about 12 per cent and in Delhi about 21
per cent. The corresponding figures for London and Paris are 23
per cent and 25 per cent respectively.
The road network
in a majority of our cities is characterized by narrow carriageways,
poor surface quality and absence or inadequacy of footpaths. In
some of the cities, considerable proportion of the arterial roads
have a right-of-way of even less than 10 metres. Most of the network
has also not been provided with footpaths. Even the limited road
capacity is further reduced by way of on-street parking, encroachments
by hawkers and shopkeepers on carriageways and footpaths, lack
of parking or terminal facilities and existence of mixed slow-moving
traffic comprising bicycles, animal-driven vehicles, scooters
and hand-carts. For these reasons the vehicular speed in busy
centres has come down to 10 km to 15 km per hour during peak hours.
Unless remedial measures are taken this situation is expected
to worsen in the years to come.
The growth of
predominant road-based mass transport system has brought in its
wake extreme congestion on the road, high level of pollution,
unacceptable levels of road accidents — the road accident rate
in India is 40 times more than in U.K. — heavy noise pollution
and low average speed.
In the short term,
road transport in the city needs to be improved by measures such
as widening of roads, prohibition of on-street parking, removal
of encroachments, segregation of fast and slow moving traffic,
priority to public transport modes like buses over private modes
through physical, fiscal and other measures, traffic inter-section
improvements, lane disciplining, prohibition of plying of private
vehicles during peak hours and providing park-and-ride facility.
Buses in India are
built on truck chassis and have engines with high cruising speed
and low acceleration. These buses are thus unsuitable for urban
areas where speeds are low and these have to stop and move frequently.
Besides, a truck chassis is designed for a pay-load of 10 tonnes
or more while the pay-load of a bus rarely exceeds 7-8 tonnes.
The urban buses have low floor, low cruising speeds, wide doors
and high acceleration or de-acceleration. They will not only reduce
energy consumption but also result in lesser pollution level.
Other technological aspects of buses such as manual steering,
low power-to-weight ratio engine, leaf spring suspension, low
pressure fuel pumps, engines without turbo-charger, conventional
air or hydraulic brake and use of ergonomically designed seats
also need to be upgraded. These improvements, if incorporated
in our buses, would bring them at par with international standards.
Despite these suggested
improvements in road network and bus technology, the road-based
mass transport system will optimally cater to those corridors
of the city where phpdt does not exceed 10,000. For corridors
with phpdt exceeding 10,000, provision of rail-based mass transport
system is inescapable.
Rail-Based
Mass Transport
Rail-based systems
are superior to buses because they provide higher carrying capacity,
faster, smoother and safer travel, occupy less space and are non-polluting
and energy-efficient. To summarise, a rail-based system needs
1/5th energy per passenger km compared to road-based system; causes
no air pollution in the city, has a lesser noise level, occupies
no road space if underground and only about 2 metres width of
the road if elevated, carries the same volume of traffic as 9
lanes of bus traffic or 33 lanes of private motor cars either
way. If it is a heavy capacity system, it is more reliable, comfortable
and safer than road-based system and reduces journey time by anything
between 50 per cent and 75 per cent depending on road conditions. Rail-based
mass transport may be a medium, or heavy capacity system, also
referred to as mass rapid transit system (MRTS) or metro system.
The medium capacity systems are usually provided on corridors
on which phpdt does not exceed 20,000 to 45,000. For traffic densities
ranging between 45,000 – 75,000 phpdt, the provision of heavy
capacity system becomes necessary. Since the number of commuters
to be dealt with is relatively less in the medium capacity system,
its trains consist of 3 to 4 coaches and other related infrastructure
is also of smaller size. In the case of heavy capacity system,
which is to deal with traffic densities ranging from 45,000 to
75,000 phpdt, trains have 8 to 9 coaches and other related infrastructure
is also of a larger size.
Across the world
the practice is once the population of a city reaches one million
mark, they start planning for a rail-based mass rapid transit
system so that by the time the population reaches 2 million mark,
one or two metro rail lines are already in operation. Thereafter,
the system is methodically expanded to serve the rising needs
of the city. At present 100 cities of the world have metro railways.
The main reasons
for the slow take-off of metros in the Indian cities can be traced
to the lack of clear-cut policy or lack of proper institutional
arrangements. Lack of resources, legal framework and expertise
are also the contributing factors.
Presently, no guidelines
have been laid down by the Centre or any other authority indicating
when planning for metro in a city has to begin and when it has
to become operational. Nowhere has it been laid down as to what
should be the level of traffic density and the population of a
city to justify for the provision of a metro system.
Institutional
Arrangements
Institutional inadequacies
have hampered the planned growth of rail-based urban transport
in major cities of the country. Today no single Ministry or department
of the Central Government is fully responsible for rail-based
urban transport. As per Government of India’s ‘Allocation of Business
Rules’, whereas ‘general planning and coordination’ of rail-based
urban transport systems fall under the purview of the Ministry
of Urban Development, ‘technical planning’ of these systems is
the responsibility of the Ministry of Railways. This dichotomy
acts as a road-block in the growth of the metro railway systems
in the country.
To overcome these
institutional deficiencies, a single Ministry need to be vested
with the total responsibility for planning of rail-based urban
transport systems in the country by amending the Government of
India’s ‘Allocation of Business Rules’. Towards this end, a multi-disciplinary
cell needs to be set up in that Ministry headed by a professional
having sufficient expertise and experience in the field of rail-based
urban transport. This cell will have total responsibility for
planning, including technical planning, coordination and monitoring
of rail-based mass transport systems. However, for implementation,
operation and maintenance of these systems, Special Purpose Vehicles
(SPVs) will have to be set up. The constitution of the Special
Purpose Vehicle will depend upon the funding arrangements. For
instance, it could be in the nature of a company, with equity
participation from Central and State Governments. The urban transport
cell of the Ministry shall liaise closely with the SPVs, monitor
the progress of the projects and provide requisite technical guidance
and support to them from time to time.
Resources
Metro projects are
highly capital-intensive. They cannot be justified on financial
grounds. Such projects are undertaken on socio-economic considerations.
They may also need subsidies for their operation and maintenance.
Hence the State Governments need to provide at least 15 per cent
of their initial cost, with another 15 per cent being contributed
by the Central Government. The balance 70 per cent should be met
with debts to be raised by Special Purpose Vehicles from the market
or from loans to be secured from agencies like the World Bank
and Asian Development Bank (ADB). The debt instruments for raising
money from the market should be guaranteed by the State Governments.
The loan from agencies like the ADB and World Bank, should be
procured by the Central Government but the servicing of such loans
as also of the debt instruments shall be the responsibility of
the State Governments. Both the Central Government and the State
Governments have to provide concessions for such projects in the
shape of remission of excise duty, import duty, sales tax and
other levies on equipment and materials to keep down the project
cost. Besides, land for these projects should be provided free
of cost. Metro organisations should also be empowered to raise
resources through property development to partly meet the capital
cost of the project and reduce the extent of loans required.
The issue of
lack of resources for metro rail projects has also been addressed
in the 10th Plan document. This document recommends that the Central
Government should set up a National Urban Transport Development
Fund with ‘seed money’ allocation of Rs.3,000 crore. In addition,
an equal amount should be raised through dedicated taxes or cesses
taking the total amount available in this Fund to Rs.6,000 crore.
The Fund should be the prime mover for making metro rail systems
a reality.
Lack of Expertise
Another factor
retarding the growth of metro rail systems is the absence of technological
skill and a manufacturing base for coaches and other high tech
equipment needed for these systems. In fact metro technology is
yet to take root in the country.
To partially overcome
the technological gaps, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation(DMRC)
has adopted a pragmatic approach in the implementation of the
Phase-I metro system in Delhi. DMRC has made it a condition that
all contractors, suppliers, manufacturers and consultants should
have an Indian partner. By this we hope to obtain a fair level
of technology transfer to the country by the time the Phase-I
project is completed. It should, therefore, be possible for the
country later on to plan and execute metro systems largely with
local expertise and resources.
The cities are growing
at a rapid pace. The capacity of the roads is limited but the
number of vehicles is ever increasing, resulting in slowing down
of vehicular speeds, unbearable air pollution, and increase in
the number of road accidents. The commuters today are a harassed
lot. They are tired enough when they reach their work place. The
quality of life has immensely suffered. It is time that the issue
of providing an adequate transport system is viewed in proper
perspective and no further time is lost in planning and implementing
metro rail systems where such a need exists. If, however, laxity
persists, it will become extremely difficult for the commuters
to reach their work places in time. The number of road accidents
will grow, the quality of life will further deteriorate and eventually
it is the progress of the country which will suffer. The measures
suggested above may, therefore, be put into action as early as
possible. Rail-based urban transport system will bring order in
the city traffic. They will indeed bring about social and attitudinal
changes, inculcating a sense of discipline and cleanliness among
the citizens. (PIB Features)
*Managing
Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd.
