India’s urban rail sector is witnessing significant expansion, driven by rising passenger demand and the growing need for efficient, safe and sustainable public transportation. Metro rail networks are being developed and expanded across major cities, while new technologies and multimodal integration are transforming the urban mobility landscape. As one of the country’s largest and most established metro rail organisations, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has played a pivotal role in shaping urban transportation in the National Capital Region. In an interview with Indian Infrastructure, Dr Vikas Kumar, Managing Director, DMRC, highlights the key trends in the metro rail sector, the organisation’s recent progress, key achievements and initiatives in digitalisation, innovation and sustainability, the key challenges facing the sector, and future focus areas. Excerpts…
How has the metro rail ecosystem evolved in recent years? What are the key trends shaping the sector?
The metro rail ecosystem in India has undergone a massive change over the past decade. In 2014, India’s entire metro network was about 250 km long. Today, the network has crossed the 1,000 km mark, spanning 26 cities across the country and placing India third globally after China and the US in terms of operational metro length.
The key trends that have emerged, such as indigenisation, digitalisation, integrated mobility systems, reflect the inherent capacities that we have developed to plan and implement such mammoth infrastructure projects on our own.
In addition, transit-oriented development (TOD) will play a major role in the years to come. More and more technologies are being indigenised, and India today finds itself at a very interesting juncture, having emerged as one of the fastest expanding metro rail networks globally.
What has been the progress on network expansion in your city? What are the key projects under way?
DMRC is currently engaged in the construction of multiple corridors under Phases IV and V of its expansion. While we have opened about 24 km of new lines in recent years, we will be opening many new sections in a phased manner in the months ahead. The Delhi Metro network will eventually cross the magical 500 km mark in terms of network length after the completion of these corridors.
One of the key projects we have operationalised is the ring metro on Delhi Metro’s Pink Line. It is India’s only ring metro, with the metro corridor largely running along the city’s arterial Ring Road.
We are also working to provide metro connectivity to the prestigious Central Vista area, where our stations will seamlessly connect the new office complexes around India Gate and other major landmarks in the Central Business District, such as Bharat Mandapam and the Yuge Yugeen Bharat Museum.
“DMRC is actively using digital technologies, especially AI, to enhance its operational efficiency, passenger safety, security and overall service quality.”
What role are digital technologies playing in asset management, operational optimisation and improving service delivery across metro systems?
Indian metros are increasingly adopting communication-based train control, platform screen doors and driverless train operations to improve service delivery.
Digital ticketing has transformed the passenger interface. The National Common Mobility Card, and QR- and unified payment interface (UPI)-based ticketing have become the order of the day.
DMRC’s Saarthi App has evolved into a comprehensive mobility-as-a-service plat-form, enabling integrated booking across metro, rail, bus, auto, taxi and bike services, complemented by smart door-to-door trip options.
DMRC is actively deploying digital technologies, especially artificial intelligence (AI), to enhance its operational efficiency, passenger safety, security and overall service quality. Some of the initiatives taken by us are:
Conversational agentic AI innovation: Ask CHETNA (Chatbot for Efficient Travel and Navigation Assistance) by DMRC is built on a BharatGPT-powered agentic AI stack with a sovereign AI architecture, enabling secure, India-hosted intelligence for metro passenger services. The solution provides interactive journey planning, fare information, real-time service updates, and ticket booking options across web and mobile platforms.
Empowering the complaint management system with AI: As part of its digital modernisation, DMRC has introduced a state-of-the-art complaint management system to enhance passenger grievance redressal. This is being gradually upgraded to an agentic AI-based system.
The ongoing Phase I focuses on AI-enabled automation of written complaints, reducing average handling time and improving workflow transparency. Under Phase II, it will deploy an AI-powered voice bot on helpline 011-155370 for real-time intent recognition and automated complaint resolution, with seamless human escalation for complex cases.
Introduction of AI-based systems for overhead wire health monitoring: DMRC has introduced advanced AI–based systems to monitor the health of its overhead equipment. The health monitoring solution uses a pantograph collision detection system on the Red Line (Line 1), Yellow Line (Line 2) and Blue Line (Line 3/4). This system uses accelerometers and drop-off sensors installed on train pantographs to continuously monitor the contact between the moving pantograph and the stationary overhead wire. This helps in identifying wire alignment issues and hard points in the system.
In addition, DMRC has introduced AIbased video monitoring of the overhead wire network on the Pink Line (Line 7) and Magenta Line (Line 8). This system analyses video footage captured from trains using AI image analytics to detect and classify anomalies.
AI-driven technologies to strengthen train and track safety: An automatic wheel profile monitoring system has been introduced on the Pink Line (Line 7) to continuously monitor the condition of train wheels. The system uses high-precision laser sensors to scan wheel profiles while trains are in motion. To further enhance train safety, an automatic axle bearing temperature monitoring system has also been deployed on the Pink Line (Line 7) and Magenta Line (Line 8).
What strategies are being adopted for making metro rail systems energy efficient and sustainable?
Sustainability and energy efficiency are at the very core of how we plan and implement our projects. For example, DMRC is continuously working towards reducing its dependence on thermal power sources.
Today, we are generating about 53.4 MWp through our own rooftop solar power plants in-stalled at DMRC’s premises, such as depots, residential complexes and parking lots. We are also procuring about 100 MWp of solar power from an offsite solar power site in Rewa, Mad-hya Pradesh. Overall, about 32 per cent of the energy we use comes from renewable and non-polluting sources.
We have also established recycling facilities for construction and demolition waste management, and developed bricks and site beautification products using the construction and demolition waste.
Right from the beginning of the project, we have been making provisions for planting 10 trees for every tree cut for construction work. A number of trees have also been successfully transplanted. During the design phase, all efforts are made to minimise the number of trees impacted by the metro project.
What are the key challenges faced by met-ro authorities?
Metro construction in a busy city like Delhi and its peripheries is never easy. Land acquisition is often a major challenge as projects tend to get delayed primarily due to the unavailability of land.
Therefore, we try to plan our alignments in such a way that the minimum amount of private land is required. We often carry out construction on road medians. Because of heavy traffic flow, traffic management is also a major challenge at some places.
However, I am proud to say that DMRC has developed the necessary expertise to address these challenges, as reflected in our impeccable project implementation record over the past three decades.
What are the future focus areas and net-work expansion plans?
As mentioned above, the Delhi Metro will open multiple new corridors in phases in the coming years. Over 100 km of new lines will be added to the Delhi Metro network by 2030. We are focusing significantly on mak-ing the ticketing process more seamless for passengers.
Over the past few years, a number of new initiatives, such as digital QR code-based ticketing, virtual smart cards, and app-based door-to-door travel option, have been introduced. In the coming years, we will see more such technology-driven interventions in the ticketing domain.
Delhi Metro has also established a subsidiary, Delhi Metro International Limited, which is bidding for metro projects across the globe. We are now a confident group of engineers who believe that, with our level of experience and know-how, we can successfully manage metro projects worldwide.
A number of such projects are in the pipe-line and we are hopeful that we will be in-volved in some international projects in the years ahead.
“DMRC has established recycling facilities for construction and demolition waste management, and developed bricks and site beautification products using the construction and demolition waste.”
