In recent years, the government has been focusing on improving public transportation by exploring various alternative mobility solutions, besides conventional metro rail systems. In this regard, light rail transit (LRT) systems, monorails and regional rapid transit systems (RRTSs) have emerged as tenable solutions. These systems are not only light on the government’s pocket, but can also significantly aid in reducing the number of private vehicles on the road and thus lower pollution levels.
Light rail transit systems
LRT is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has lower capacity and lower speeds than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speeds than traditional street-running tram systems. In July 2019, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs laid down a set of standards and specifications for the construction and operation of Metrolite, a new light rail system, in 50 Indian cities and towns that have a lower projected ridership.
Despite having numerous benefits over metro rail systems, LRT/Metrolite has not been a very popular mode of public transport in India. Most cities continue to prefer metro rail systems since it has been observed that in Metrolite the costs savings over the lifetime of the asset are marginal. In the past, LRT systems have been proposed for a number of cities; however, either no significant progress has been made on the projects till date (Kozhikode LRT) or they have been scrapped altogether (Bengaluru and Pune LRT) owing to various implementation issues. Despite major failures, Metrolite projects are now coming up in several cities including Srinagar, Jammu, Kochi and Delhi. Besides, several other LRT projects have been recommended for Tier II and Tier III cities such as Dehradun, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam.
Monorail
The country’s first monorail project became operational in Mumbai in 2014. Besides, Mumbai remains the only city in the country to have implemented it so far. With the aim of serving other transit systems in the city with a feeder service and for catering to narrow congested areas, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority decided to introduce monorails with typically elevated single tracks. The 8.9 km Phase I of the project between Chembur and Wadala was commissioned in March 2014 and the 11.28 km Phase II connecting WadalaSant to GadgeMaharajChowk was commissioned in March 2019. The project has a total of 17 stations. The monorail carries 7,500 commuters per hour in each direction and has the capacity to carry 150,000-200,000 commuters daily. The entire Chembur-Wadala-Jacob Circle monorail network, besides being the country’s first monorail system, is the third longest monorail network in the world.
However, Mumbai’s monorail too has been facing several issues including power outages, technical glitches, poor frequency and ill-maintained rakes. The future of monorails is not as promising as that of LRT, as these projects do not have many takers globally due to the limited number of suppliers.
Regional rapid transit system
The country’s first RRTS, which aims to decongest the national capital’s transport system, is being implemented by the National Capital Region Transport Corporation. For the RRTS project, eight corridors have been identified for development. Of these, three corridors spanning a length of 350 km – Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Gurugram-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat – have been taken up on a priority basis. Estimated to cost around Rs 1 trillion, the three stretches are expected to have a daily ridership of about 2 million.
All three RRTS corridors will converge at Sarai Kale Khan where the system will be connected to other modes of public transport. To enable this, the European Train Control System, Level 2 signalling system is being deployed. The RRTS, along with multimodal integration, is expected to result in a shift away from private transport, increasing the share of public transport from 37 per cent to 63 per cent.
Spanning a length of 82.15 km, the Delhi-Meerut stretch will have a total of 24 stations and will serve 800,000 passengers per day. Of this, the 17 km long Sahibabad-Duhai priority section is expected to be completed by March 2023. Meanwhile, the entire corridor is expected to be commissioned by March 2025.
To conclude
As of March 2019, the operational network of urban rail systems in India is about 698.5 km, with another 624 km under construction and 1,949 km coming up (announced, approved, under bidding and awarded).
Of the country’s total operational network, the Delhi metro has the highest network length of 348 km. However, ridership data suggests that there is insufficient footfall in some stretches of the Delhi metro, as is the case in many other cities too. Hence, the government has been promoting other modes of transport, and these have already started garnering attention.