METRO RAIL IN
DELHI
E.
Sreedharan*
The national capital
has experienced a phenomenal growth in population in the last
few decades. Its population increased from 57 lakh in 1981 to
138 lakh in 2001. The city, however, still lacks an efficient
mass transport system. It is perhaps the only city of its size
in the world whose public transport system is wholly road-based.
As a result, the number of motor vehicles increased from 5.4 lakh
in 1981 to about 38 lakh in 2001. In spite of the roads occupying
21 per cent of the total city area, this large number of motor
vehicles causes extreme congestion on roads, ever slowing speed,
fuel wastage, environmental pollution and an unacceptable level
of road accidents. The road accident rate in Delhi is about 40
times more than in U.K. Hence a rail-based urban transport system
for Delhi became an inescapable necessity.
Delhi MRTS
The first decisive
step to introduce the Metro Rail Transport System (MRTS) for Delhi
was taken when the NCT and Central Governments commissioned Rail
India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) in 1989 to conduct
a feasibility study for introducing such a system. Completed in
1990, the study recommended a rail-based system, comprising a
network of underground, elevated and surface corridors, aggregating
to 198.5 kms, to meet the traffic demand up to the year 2021.
The whole project, estimated to cost Rs. 15,000 crore at 1996
price level was expected to handle 12.6 million commuter trips.
On account of the high cost of the project, the NCT Government
of Delhi decided to implement it in phases. The first phase presently
under implementation comprises the three lines - Line No. 1- Shahdara-Tis
Hazari-Barwala (28 km), Line No. 2-Delhi University-Central
Secretariat (11 km), Line No. 3- Barakhamba-Connaught Place-Dwarka
(23.16km) that is equal to a total route of 62.16 km. (see Annex.I)
Implementation
For implementation
and subsequent operation of the Delhi MRTS, a Company under the
name Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (DMRC) was registered in
May, 1995 with equal equity participation by the Central and Delhi
State governments. DMRC is, therefore, a Government-owned company.
The project report
stipulated implimentation of the project within 10 years from
April 1, 1995 to March 31, 2005. As more than three years had
already elapsed by the time DMRC started functioning, the implementation
period was compressed from 10 years to 7 years, starting from
April 1, 1998 adhering to the original completion target of 2005.
Funding
Excluding taxes and
duties, the estimated completion cost of the project by the year
2005 would be about Rs.10,570 crore including the cost of land
and rolling stock. Thirty per cent of the project cost is to be
financed through equity contributions subscribed equally by the
Central Government and the Delhi Government. The two Governments
have also agreed to give an interest-free loan to cover the cost
of land acquisition which roughly works out to 8 per cent of the
project cost. The Japanese Government has agreed to finance about
56 per cent of the cost through a soft loan by the Japan Bank
of International Cooperation (JBIC). The JBIC soft loan has a
repayment period of 30 years with a moratorium period of 10 years.
The balance 6 per cent of the project cost is to be met by raising
money through property development.
World Class Facility
The MRTS phase I
network is expected to carry 21.8 lakh passengers per day in 2005.
Train frequency of three minutes during peak hours has been proposed
on both the surface and underground corridors, with an ultimate
system capacity to carry 60,000 – 75,000 passengers per hour each
way.
The rolling stock,
both for underground and surface corridors, is 3.2 m wide in state-of-the-art
design in stainless steel, with three phase AC drive, chevron
rubber or air bag suspension system and regenerative braking.
Cab signalling with
automatic train protection and supervision has been proposed for
both types of corridors.
The climate conditions
of Delhi are quite extreme with the temperature going down to
4°C in winter and up to 45°C in summer, with high humidity levels
between July and October. The station air-conditioning and ventilation
system in tunnels have been planned to meet the rigorous climatic
conditions of Delhi. The coaches are all air-conditioned.
Ticketing is fully
automatic. Contactless smart cards serve the purpose of tickets
for metro passengers. These smart cards can be used for single
and multiple journeys depending upon the value of the card. These
cards can be read at any entry points through laser and no physical
contact is necessary to ensure longevity of these cards. Passengers
have the convenience and option of purchasing a ticket of higher
volume once and undertaking multiple journeys on the metro. The
value of these cards gets reduced automatically after each journey
as readers are installed at the entry as well as the exit gates
of the MRTS stations.
All entrances of
the metro stations are controlled through automatic flap gates
through which 45 to 60 passengers can pass per minute from each
of them. The entire fare collection system is monitored through
a central commuter in the operational control centre of the DMRC
which will have optic fibre communication channels.
Another innovative
idea being considered by DMRC is integration of metro ticket with
DTC and other services in the capital. If the integration works
out, the same ticket will be valid in metro trains as well as
buses. The contactless smart card metro ticket will work as an
electronic purse if more and more establishments in the city start
accepting the metro card.
DMRC is planning
to sell these stored value cards through nominated vendors in
different parts of the city. This is being planned with a view
that out-sourcing will reduce the pressure on DMRC stations.
DMRC has a very small
power requirement of only about three per cent of the total peak
hour need now estimated to be 2600 MW for Delhi area. Trains,
lifts, escalators, ventilation and air-conditioning system will
need 75 MW by 2005 as per the power systems being designed presently.
No compromise in
the system designing, however, would be made as power for the
MRTS will be drawn from three different sources which will serve
as back-up to each other. In the unlikely event of total power
failure, emergency lighting in the tunnel and at the MRTS stations
will be automatically switched on and fed from the standby generator
sets.
In addition, all
trains will also have batteries for continuous lighting and air-conditioning
even when the train is stopped in the event of complete power
failure.
The ventilation
and air-conditioning arrangements in the tunnel and the underground
stations have been so designed that emergency ventilation will
continue to be maintained from the standby generators.
To ensure continuous
availability of quality power for running MRTS trains, utmost
efforts have been made to ensure power supply system with a degree
of reliability as in the other world metros.
The inaugural train
on Shahdara-Tis Hazari section was flagged off by the Prime Minister
on December 24, 2002. This section was opened to passenger traffic
on December 25, 2002. Presently trains are operated at 8 minutes
interval which would gradually be reduced to 5 minute’s and subsequently
to 3 minutes when adequate traffic builds up.
The Shahdara-Tis
Hazari section is being followed by commissioning of the Tis Hazari-Trinagar
(4.5 km) section in September, 2003 and the Trinagar-Rithala (8.5
km) section in March, 2004.
Line No.2 (Underground)
All identified utilities have
been diverted. The construction of the diaphragm wall and sheet
piling work is in progress. The tunnel construction work began
in July 2002; two tunnel-boring machines are working from Patel
Chowk-end and the third machine will soon start working from the
Delhi Main-end. Detailed design work for signalling and train
control, power supply and electric traction and automatic fare
collection systems for this line is in progress.
Line No.2 will be
commissioned in two stages - the first stage from Delhi University
to ISBT (4 km) by December, 2004 and the second stage from ISBT
to Central Secretariat (7 km) by September, 2005.
The Line No.3 (surface/underground)
was approved in July, 2002 by the Government in lieu of the Trinagar-Nangloi
Line. Land acquisition, detailed designs for civil works, geo-technical
investigation, planning and finalisation of tenders for utility
diversion are presently in progress. Actual physical work on this
corridor is expected to begin in January, 2003.
The Line No.3 would
be opened in two stages; from Barakhamba Road to Kirti Nagar (7.16
km) in June, 2005 and from Kirti Nagar to Dwarka (16 km) in September,
2005.
Extension of the
Barakhamba Road-Connaught Place-Dwarka Line has been included
in phase III of Delhi MRTS Master Plan. Subject to approval of
the Master Plan by the Government and allotment of funds, the
extension of the corridor to Dwarka sub-city as a part of phase
III would be executed between 2010 and 2015. Once phase III is
completed, there would be 10 stations inside the Dwarka sub-city.
Benefits
Delhi MRTS is essentially
a social sector project whose benefits will pervade wide sections
of the economy. The first phase will generate substantial benefits
to the economy by way of siphoning off the roads 21.8 lakh commuter
trips per day. This would mean 2,500 less buses on the roads,
increase in average speed of road buses from 10.5 km/h to 14 km/h,
saving of 20 lakh man hours per day due to reduced journey time,
saving in fuel cost worth Rs.500 crore per year, more comfortable
and safe travel for the commuters, reductions in atmospheric pollution
and accident rates and improvement in the quality of life.
MRTS phase I project,
presently under implementation in Delhi, is only the beginning.
At its present level of population, Delhi requires about 225 km
of MRTS network. This requirement will increase in the coming
years. A Master Plan for MRTS for Delhi is being finalised by
the Government. It would be necessary to take up the future phases
of MRTS as per this Master Plan.(PIB Features)
*Managing
Director, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited.
Click here for Annexure
I
