Passenger rail

Urban rail

The construction of metro systems in India started late in comparison to many other countries, but, in recent years, development across the country has been rapid. Kolkata was the first city in India to build a metro rail system, in 1984, followed by New Delhi, in 2002. The success of the New Delhi metro in terms of offering a high quality service throughout the National Capital Region has inspired other Indian cities to develop their own metro systems (UITP, 2018a). Currently, ten Indian cities have an operating metro system (Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Jaipur, Chennai, Kochi, Lucknow and Hyderabad) and two more cities (Pune and Nagpur) are constructing systems (Sinha, 2018a) (Map 4.2). 1

Overall in India, about 500 kilometres of metro lines are operational, 620 kilometres are under construction (both to expand existing systems and to create new ones), and 600 kilometres are being planned (Sinha, 2018a). As is common practice in building metro systems, construction in India tends to take place in phases, the network being progressively expanded to cover a larger area of the city. In the early stages of metro development, a relatively small proportion of the urban population has access, especially in larger cities.2

In 2015, the national government approved a proposal to build metro systems in 50 cities. These new systems would be realised through SPVs, with state and central government jointly financing the projects (most are being planned as 50:50 joint ventures between the two levels of government) (Railway Pro, 2018) and, in 2016, the government earmarked USD 1.5 billion (United States dollars) (Indian Rupee [INR] 100 billion) for metro projects (UITP, 2018a). In 2017, the government published a Metro Rail Policy, which encourages cities with more than two million inhabitants to plan mass transit systems, including metro railways (MoHUA, 2017). Significantly, it was stated that private sector participation will form an essential requirement for all metro rail project proposals seeking central government financial assistance.3

Map 4.2 Existing and under construction metro systems in India

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Sources: IEA based on Sinha (2018a).

Key message • Metro systems are expanding rapidly; operating in ten urban areas and under construction in six cities.

Conventional passenger rail services help to meet both suburban commuter and intercity passenger mobility needs. Suburban services account for just over half the total passengers carried by conventional passenger rail services, but for less than one-eighth of total activity as measured by passenger-kilometres. The remaining passenger traffic is intercity and long distance (Table 4.1) (Indian Railways, 2018b).

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Table 4.1 Proportion of suburban and intercity service in total passenger rail activity, 2017

Source: IEA based on Indian Railways (2018b).

Key message • Despite serving more than half of total passengers, suburban/commuter rail transport accounts for only about one-eighth, in terms of passenger-kilometres.

High-speed rail

At present, India does not have high-speed rail.6 In 2015, India and Japan signed an agreement to develop a high-speed rail line, called MAHSR, to connect the cities of Ahmedabad and Mumbai.7 This high-speed rail line, which is expected to become operational in 2023, will have a total length of 508 kilometres and ten intermediate stops. It will be served by Shinkansen type trains of Japanese design, which can achieve maximum operating speed of 320 kilometres per hour (NHSRCL, 2017). The MAHSR will reduce travel time between the terminal stations from approximately nine hours (by bus) or six hours (by conventional rail) to two hours. MAHSR is expected to have a competitive advantage over air travel for three reasons: considering door- to-door travel time, high-speed rail is faster; it provides a fast connection between multiple city pairs not currently served by air; and it can operate more reliably in all weather conditions (Mishra, 2018). The commercial competitiveness of MAHSR with aircraft operating on the same route will depend on whether MAHSR successfully contains costs so as to offer fares in the same range as air travel (USD 18 to 65).