Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 15

Metro & Railways
Now private operators can run metro train on Delhi
Metro track: MoHUA
The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Board has allowed DMRC to ask private operators to buy metro trains and
operate in proposed Phase-IV network.
T
he Ministry of Housing and
Urban Affairs (MoHUA) has
approved the proposal of
Delhi Metro to involve
private operators to run its train in the
proposed metro phase IV corridors.
Under the plan, the tracks will be set
up by Delhi Metro while coaches will
be obtained from a private player,
which will be selected through a
bidding process.
Also, Delhi Metro will pay the
private firm to run its trains. In order
to operate other essential services
across all the metro stations, such as
elevators,
escalators
and
AFC
(automated fare collection) gates, the
DMRC has also proposed the
involvement of private players.
Besides, the Board of Directors of
Metro also approved the proposal to
procure 300 coaches for metro on lease.
Secretary (MoHUA) Durga Shankar
Mishra told that the Board of Directors
of Delhi Metro has approved the
proposal to involve private entities to
run metro rail in the phase IV. This is
the first time that Delhi Metro wants
to involve private operators to run
metro rail. A rift between the Central
Government
and
the
Delhi
Government over funding pattern is
the cause of the delays in
implementation of metro phase IV
corridors. Despite the
Centre’s
WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
approval, the Delhi Government has
not given approval of Metro phase IV
corridors.
According to Mishra, the proposal
was put up by Delhi Metro at the
Board of Directors meeting last month.
Delhi Metro requested the Delhi
Government and the Union Urban
Development Ministry for approval to
engage private players in at least three
to six suggested corridors.
Tracks will be set up by Delhi
Metro while coaches will be
obtained from a private
player, which will be selected
through bidding process.
Tughlakabad-Terminal 1 section and
Janakpuri (west)-RK Ashram section,
while the second one will comprise the
section
between
Rithala-Narela,
Inderlok-Indraprastha section and
Lajpat Nagar-Saket G-Block section.
The latest Detailed Project Reports
of six corridors of Metro phase IV
states that the 104-km Metro Phase-IV
network is expected to be completed by
December 31, 2024.
The proposed lines are:
• Mukundpur-Maujpur (12.54 km)
• Rithala-Narela (21.73 km)
• Tughlakabad-Aerocity (20.20 km)
• Inderlok-Indraprastha (12.58 km)
• Lajpat
Nagar-Saket
G-block
(7.96 km)
• Janakpuri
West-RK
Ashram
(28.92 km).
The
104-kilometre
network
proposed in phase IV is expected to
add 1.5 million passengers to the Metro
daily. It will benefit residents of South
Delhi, giving them the option of taking
the Metro to the airport and other
neighborhoods. The project has been
pending approval for nearly three
years, with the files seemingly stuck
with the Delhi Government. Work was
to begin in 2016 and be completed by
2021.
On the procuring of coaches on
lease, officials said the lease proposal is
under a new public-private-partnership
(PPP) model, which is being tested for
the first time in the Railways sector in
India.
The advantage of the lease model is
that the Delhi Metro will neither be
required to make an upfront capital
investment, nor will it incur any
maintenance costs over the entire 30-
year-long life cycle of the coaches.
Instead, it will pay the concessionaire
for the trains leased on an hourly basis.
Such models to finance and procure
coaches exist in Australia, the UK and
across Europe.
Mishra also stated that if
underground station is built on Hazrat
Nizammuddin railway station for
Rapid Rail Transit System, it will add
an additional cost of Rs 4,500 crore.
“Delhi Metro also recommended a
Public-private partnership
(PPP)
model without any further details
about
its
functioning,”
Mishra
said. Under the plan, Delhi Metro will
give guarantee to private operator on
ridership and operator may run train
on the basis of per kilometer expenses.
The total cost of metro phase IV was
estimated Rs 55,208 crore in 2016.
Three corridor of phase IV has
approved by the Centre and it is
pending with the Delhi Government.
Sources in the MoHUA said Delhi
Metro is seeking approval for two of its
phases. The first one will comprise the
section between Mukundpur-Maujpur, ***
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Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018