As the economy is adjusting to the new normal, all the infrastructure sectors are gradually reviving with support from the government. However, one of the sectors that has taken the greatest hit and will require special focus is transportation. The promoters and operators of mass transit systems in the country have incurred huge revenue losses in the past few months, due to reduced ridership in city buses and completely halted metro rail operations. The central government is currently working out a mechanism to resume operations of metro rail systems while maintaining the norms of physical distancing through zone-wise queuing and screening. However, there are speculations over the revival of the sector in the short run due to higher chances of exposure to the virus.
On the positive side, construction works are gradually resuming for various ongoing projects. Technology has come to the rescue with working from home becoming the new norm. Advanced technologies for remote workforce management and monitoring of project work are being adopted to expedite project implementation. Executing agencies are also taking decisions over video calls and using technology to complete design and drawing approvals.
Indian Infrastructure reviews the impact of Covid-19 on the metro rail and bus segments and the execution of projects in these segments…
Impact on project implementation
The rapid increase in population in metro cities has created the dual problem of congestion and pollution. To address the issue, these cities have taken up metro and bus transit projects to serve the larger sections of society. However, the ongoing pandemic has greatly affected the implementation of these projects due to labour shortages, disrupted supply chains and financial losses to operators and promoters. There has been a delay in the planned projects for bus transit as the spending priorities of civic bodies have shifted due to the pandemic. For instance, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation has changed its plan to provide 300 feeder buses to improve the city’s last-mile connectivity for its bus rapid transit system as well as metro rail corridors.
Further, construction work for metro projects in most of the cities has been postponed due to the pandemic. Phase II of the Bengaluru metro rail project has been affected due to supply chain issues caused as a result of the ban on international travel to Covid-19-affected countries, including China. For instance, the assembly of tunnel boring machines imported from China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Limited came to a halt due to the lockdown, delaying tunnelling works for the project. Further, the Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation’s plans to complete tunnelling works for the metro project have been pushed out from December 2020 to beyond February 2021 due to the lack of labour and machinery and disruptions in the supply chain during the lockdown. Reportedly, the speed of tunnelling works for the project has come down from 1,500 metres per month before the lockdown to 600 metres at present. Besides, the number of labourers on site had reduced from 15,000 to 4,000, though this is gradually improving as restrictions are being lifted. Work on Phase II of the Bengaluru metro rail project has also been affected due to the migration of close to 3,500 workers from the city to their native towns/villages. As a result, the deadlines are likely to be extended as the civil work is yet to be completed. Similarly, construction work on the Pune metro rail project has been hit due to labour shortages of at least 50 per cent at the worksites.
Impact on revenue and profitability
The ongoing pandemic has put a huge financial burden on city bus and metro operators and promoters, although city bus operations have resumed, with physical distancing and regular sanitisation norms. However, the ridership and hence the revenues are still extremely low and insufficient to make up for the losses incurred by the operators in the past few months. This has put their long-term sustainability at risk as they are not in a position to pay their loan instalments. According to the Bus and Car Operators Confederation of India and the Delhi Contract Bus Association, transporters in Delhi alone have suffered a financial loss of about Rs 650 billion in two months (June and July 2020). In the case of metros, the major revenue source of operators – fare charges – has dried up completely. As per estimates, L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited (L&TMRHL) loses close to Rs 450 million every month that it remains idle. Indian Ratings and Research has even revised the outlook on L&TMRHL’s bank facilities to negative from stable while affirming a rating of IND BBB+. This reflects the delays in revenue realisation from monetisation of transit-oriented development, shutdown of services during the lockdown and the impact on ridership. Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited has incurred a loss of about Rs 1 billion on account of suspended metro operations amid the ongoing pandemic.
The losses in revenues have greatly impacted the loan repayment abilities of metro promoters as their income from secondary sources such as commercial and retail leases have also dried up. For the first time in nearly two decades, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) will not be able to pay this year’s instalment of Rs 12.43 billion (of the total loan amount of Rs 351.98 billion for metro construction works) to the Japan International Cooperation Agency. DMRC has requested the central government to reschedule the repayment and defer the payment to next year as it has suffered a revenue loss of over Rs 10 billion on account of the lockdown. There have also been cost escalations for ongoing projects including Phase I of the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro, the project cost of which has risen by about Rs 20 billion over the initial cost and is now expected to be Rs 127 billion. The cost overrun on the project has occurred for a number of reasons, including the lockdown. There is an urgent need for government intervention to provide financial relief to contractors and operators in the mass transit sector by deferring their loan payments and waiving interest payments.
Response to the pandemic
Covid-19 has already impacted the pace of project implementation as well as operation of mass transit systems across the country. However, to avoid further losses and delays, operators are working towards providing facilities for passenger safety so that operations can be resumed at the earliest. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has come up with an interesting way to avoid hand contact with elevator buttons by providing a foot-operated lift mechanism. The idea is likely to be implemented at metro stations across the city. Further, Kochi Metro Rail Limited has also made arrangements for passenger safety such as the Kochi I smart card for contactless ticketing. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority has recently invited bids to engage a mobile technology partner for the development, operation and maintenance of a common mobility application under its integrated ticketing services project, which will deploy a contactless travel system for different modes of public transport.
Meanwhile, work on some projects has resumed. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation successfully conducted digitally enabled global pre-bid meetings via video conferencing. Besides, in another major development, DMRC finalised the design of a bridge using the building information modelling technology. It uploaded a 3D model with intricate details of the proposed structure for approval. DMRC has even commenced preliminary work on the bridge coming up on the Majlis Park–Maujpur corridor of Delhi Metro’s Phase IV project. Further, CMRL has also begun the work on Phase I of the Chennai metro project with only 25-30 per cent of the workforce at its worksites. Contractors are also hiring and training local workers, although this is a time-consuming process. There have also been instances of outbreak of cases at worksites in Bengaluru which has resulted in shutting down of works temporarily.
The way forward
Covid-19 has provided a golden opportunity to transport operators for complete recalibration of metro rail systems, since metro operations are currently halted. Before mass transit services are restored, there is an urgent need for deploying new technologies and digital solutions for remote monitoring and controlling of assets and passenger movement with minimal human interaction. The risk of spreading the virus during travel by metro or bus will be minimised by managing the space between passengers, zone-wise queueing, screening and controlling crowds at stations. In this regard, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs is formulating draft standard operating procedures for resumption of metro rail services. Further, buses have also incorporated design changes such as installing prefabricated sheets to segregate the driver from the passengers. Metro rail corporations are also deploying online contactless ticketing systems and automated ticket sale points across cities to observe the physical distancing norms. Thus, new and advanced technologies for tracking, monitoring and providing information will play a key role in ensuring that all precautionary measures are taken by urban transport systems for safe travel in the current circumstances.
Nikita Chhabra and Garima Nain