ગુજરાતી
English
Ahmedabad, 8 January 2023
International magazine The Economist has exposed the misleading claims of the Indian government regarding the metro rail network in the country. Due to which the Narendra Modi government of India was shaken. The government had to issue a public statement regarding its report.
The Economist report states that no metro line in the country carries passengers at half its capacity. Metro is failing miserably in many cities. The lies told by Metro officials have now been exposed to some extent in the foreign media. The skeleton of Metro is visible in the media. Despite poor performance, there is excessive self-importance being displayed by some Metro officials.
According to a study by Geetam Tiwari and Deepti Jain of the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, none of India’s metro rail systems have achieved even half of their projected ridership. Delhi comes close to 47%. The ridership in Mumbai and Kolkata is 33 percent. In most other cities it is in the single or low double digits. There are 6% passengers in Bengaluru. (Metro is a complete failure in Modi’s home town Ahmedabad).
Government pressure
There is massive mismanagement of public lands and looting of essential resources. Metro railways in India have failed miserably on many fronts. There are serious financial difficulties in preparing the project report. The central government has forced the state governments to start metro services. There is shortage of money. There is confusion all around. What kind of economics and planning? The truth remains hidden from people. Because the media does not present Matrona in front of others.
Idea of the rich
There is charity towards the rich and hatred towards the poor. There are good roads between the buildings of the rich and the metro stations. His dealings with common people are weak. Connectivity to suburban stations is poor. Metro has taken away hundreds of acres of public space of the city. The rot starts from the top. Shock occurs while traveling on foot and in public transport. Needs to be closer to the home than underground or elevated systems. Walking distance should be reduced.
Prominence of leaders
The metro is managed by a select group of ‘stakeholders’ to transform it into a ‘world class city’. Anant is gaining fame with his pictures smiling in nice suits. Metro managers don’t want to face real people. If you take it for a ride, it will be exposed in a short time. The fares charged by public transport operators are low. But the passengers are not going. MMRDA, which handles most of the construction work of the metro. Who has completely lost his face and credibility.
Practical
A report by Down to Earth dated 22 December 2023 says that when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India in 2014, the country’s entire metro-rail network spread over 229 km across 5 cities: Bengaluru, Delhi, Gurgaon, Kolkata and Mumbai. Was. This was less than half the length of the subway in Shanghai, one of China’s largest cities at the time. After this, the Modi government prepared a plan for the expansion of metro-rail on a large scale. By April 2023, India’s network will reach 870 km across 18 cities.
Metro tracks of 1,000 km or more are under construction in 27 cities. Less than 6 km of new tracks are being launched every month. The number of passengers is decreasing rapidly in the rapidly expanding metros across the country.
According to a study conducted in this regard by Geetam Tiwari and Deepti Jain, researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi, none of India’s metro rail systems have achieved even half of their projected ridership so far. The percentage that has come out is very disappointing. This percentage reaches close to 47. If we look at the ridership in Mumbai and Kolkata, the situation is more serious here, where the ridership is estimated to be one-third.
The situation is worse in most other cities. In many of these cities this number has not even reached double digits. An example of this is that the city of Bengaluru, which holds the status of IT capital of India, has an estimated ridership of only 6 percent even during peak traffic hours.
There is a severe lack of public transport in most Indian cities. The situation is worse due to lack of proper implementation of projects. The result of this failure is that the income situation is also very bad.
According to another study conducted by Sandeep Chakraborty of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in keeping with the prestigious tradition of the Indian Railways, no metro running in many cities of the country has so far earned enough to meet its expenses. Have not done. Didn’t earn any money.
The metro system is best suited for long journeys. In most Indian cities, almost three-quarters of trips are less than 10 km. Half the journey is less than 5 kilometers. Apart from this, if seen according to Indian standards, the fare of metro is also higher than buses or other public transport.
Narrow roads in cities slow down the traffic of buses and private vehicles. Therefore efficiency is reduced especially in long distance travel.
Reasons for failure
1- Passengers are not happy sitting in shiny new, pleasantly air-conditioned, metro trains.
2- Metro lines are not within walking distance for most commuters.
3- Feeder services, such as bus routes, rarely integrated with metro lines
Are there. It’s hard to go to work on the metro. 4- There are reasons for walking, buses, shared autorickshaws and more.
5- Indian officials should be attentive to the common people and their needs, which were ignored.
6- Thousands of crores of rupees are being wasted behind the metro.
7- There is complete lack of planning and poor implementation in some metro lines.
8- Officials are completely unaware of the returns on investment by raising money for extremely expensive projects.
9- The group distance of the metal feet is very high.
10- Due to which the roads are becoming narrower.
11- Thousands of pillars stand in the middle of the road in cities. Currently 5 thousand pillars are being erected in Mumbai, heavy traffic remains for years
12- Poor connectivity in end zones.
13- Delay in construction.
14- Commercial space lease.
15- Non-property revenues like advertising space.
16- Private operators are not available.
17- Scam in station commercial and property rental income.
18- Big business of drugs.
19- The station has no naming rights.
20- Its non-rent income does not increase from advertisements and lighting of stations and commercial space of land.
21- Unless there is good connection, true benefits are not achieved.
22- Fare is not fixed as per current market conditions.
23- Metro is an intra-city network, it is not planned as such.
24- Staff costs, energy costs and repair and maintenance costs are high.
25- Metros are more capital-intensive, with higher costs for land acquisition, civil works, signaling and rolling stock.
26- The objective of reducing road congestion has failed.
27- Metro is an expensive project and one cannot expect to earn profits from it.
28- Metro Station: It is not possible for most of the passengers to walk directly from home to the metro station.
29- There should be a long track, which is on an average 5 kilometers.
Two wheeler
Efficiency of two-wheelers – ease of parking, high capacity, overtaking in congested traffic and low operating costs. Although this journey is very dangerous, it is very popular. There is no demand for public transport among the middle class due to the convenience of two-wheelers. Two wheeler per kilometer Rs. Cost less than 1. It is difficult to run a public transport system at this price. Similarly, high-income countries have never experienced widespread ownership of two-wheelers.
India’s middle class is expanding and this class is in a spending position, opting for comfort in the form of personal vehicles. The result is that the number of vehicles on the roads, congestion and traffic pollution are increasing day by day.
Car
An air-conditioned, comfortable, safe and quiet journey in a car with music cannot easily be compared with public transport. Their basic need is bus arrangement. To reach the metro station you will have to take a rickshaw or your own vehicle. There is a severe shortage of feeder services. Bus routes are rarely connected to metro lines. This is why he likes his vehicle.
Government’s clarification
On December 23, 2023, ‘The Economist’ has given an explosive report. India’s vast metro system has failed to attract passengers in large numbers.
To which the government has replied, but has not given any reason. The government has clarified that more than three-fourths of the existing metro rail network was conceived, built and operated less than ten years ago. Many metro rail systems are a few years old. However, the daily ridership of all metro systems in the country stands at 10 million. It will increase to 12.5 million in two years.
Almost all metro rail systems in the country are currently making operating profits. Delhi Metro carries 70 lakh passengers every day. This number is much higher than the number projected for Delhi Metro by the end of 2023.
This has helped in reducing the pressure on the congested corridors of the city. This congestion pressure cannot be dealt with by the public bus system alone. This can be seen in some corridors of the city. DMRC carries more than 50,000 people at peak hours and in the busiest directions. For this, 715 buses are required every 5 seconds. It is scary to imagine the road traffic situation in Delhi without Delhi Metro.
Cities
10,000 e-buses will be started. E-bus and metro systems are electric, with the metro system far ahead in terms of specific energy consumption.
Beginning
There are currently 15 operational rapid transit systems in fifteen cities in India. ‘Metro’. As of March 2023, India had 859 km of operational metro lines. There are 16 systems. Apart from this, construction of 568.15 km long lines was going on. The first Kolkata Metro in India was launched in 1984. In 2006, it proposed building a metro rail system in every city with a population of 2 million people. From 2002 to 2014, Indian metro infrastructure expanded by 248 km. In 2015, the central government spent Rs. 50 crore in 50 cities. Metro rail system worth Rs 5 lakh crore was approved.
Metro in loss across India
A Hindustan Times report dated January 15, 2020, said that although about 650 kilometers of metro lines are operational in the country and hundreds of kilometers are under construction, most of the metro network is facing huge losses.
Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Kochi metros suffered losses in 2018-19. in which a
The total revenue of Banana Chennai Metro is Rs 183 Rs 714 were spent.
Bengaluru Rs. 536 crore revenue and Rs. There was a net loss of Rs 498 crore.
Mumbai Rs. 322 crore revenue and Rs. There was a net loss of Rs 236 crore.
Hong Kong’s Metro made an operating profit of 36%. Raised US$1.5 billion into the government treasury.
389 km network in Delhi Metro for Rs 100. Rs 6,462 crore against net loss of 7%. In which the rental income is Rs. 3,119 crores.
Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru Metro tops in ridership per km, but not even close to projected numbers! Average ridership is 28.09% of expected ridership, which is very poor.
NEWS click
A 2017 report by News Click says the metro is considered the lifeline of the city. A passenger traveling 35 km per day has to pay a fare of Rs 2500 per month. Metros are important in facilitating economic growth. Provides comfortable, fast and affordable travel. Provides high economic returns to the city, generating benefits that are not returned to the system in financial terms.
Reliance
Not a profitable venture. Reliance Infrastructure, which was originally operating the line, suffered heavy losses and eventually abandoned the project. DMRC took over and reduced fares by 40%, leading to a 30% increase in ridership.
There are metro systems in 200 cities of the world. London’s Metro is the oldest, constructed in 1863. With approximately 750 km, the Shanghai Metro network is the largest in the world today. Most are travelers.
Bus service
Officials don’t like buses. The fleet in the bus system is decreasing instead of increasing. The vacant posts of permanent employees have not been filled. A completely failed model of privatization is being imposed. The bus infrastructure requires very little space. It would be wrong to ignore low-cost alternatives such as urban bus systems. The operation of the bus service has been handed over to private companies. But most of the bus services are running in loss. Bus services in metros are proving to be much cheaper and more beneficial for route planning. A green alternative to electric buses has also emerged.
BRTS
“Bus Rapid Transit Systems” Attempts to build such systems in India have often failed due to poor implementation, poor performance, resistance from motorists, and lack of political will. The condition of buses is bad. The metro is dirty and is clean and dust free. The most important task is to rapidly improve the bus network in urban areas of India. It also increases non-bus traffic by consuming a large portion of the city’s roads.
Vandebharat train
Vande Bharat trains are not running at the speed that Modi promotes. It is expensive and for the rich. Run for rich people. Vande Bharat trains have a very negative impact on the performance of trains used by others.
Bullet train
If the central government is willing to invest huge sums of money in a project like the Bullet Train, which will serve far fewer people than the Delhi Metro, then its priorities are seriously questioned. In which only rich people will travel on low tickets. (Google translet from Gujarati)
