Urban Transport Infrastructure November 2018 Urban Transport Infra November 2018 | Page 56

Editorial
Time saved in building overhead
tracks and the rush to beat their own
deadlines has its own downside, one of
which is accidents and casualties.
According to a New Indian
Express report, 156 workers’ lives
have been lost on metro construction
sites between 2002 and end 2017 –
and this does not include the figure
for fatalities resulting from collapsing
beams or falling debris on passers-by.
reconsideration of the initial proposal.
The long-term costs of regular
disruption of the teaching-learning
process for decades to come is
something that is obviously not a
priority, the profitability of public
transport through cutting corners,
acquiring huge tracts of real estate to
build malls and increasing costs of
tickets to an extent that the poor are
driven out of the metro are things
Rush in Delhi Metro in Peak Hours
We do not recollect if the metro
rail corporation had commissioned
any study to understand the long-
term physical, neurological and
psychological impact on those who
will be constantly exposed to this
increase in the ambient noise levels on
the streets and residential areas
through which the metro lines run.
One
wonders
what
kind
of
committees oversee such projects and
how it is that such long-term effects
on the health of those who live in
these localities are not factored into
any project report.
Can you think of any society, even
a moderately modernized society,
that will allow an overhead train
system tearing through the heart of a
university every couple of minutes?
The magenta line, inaugurated
recently by none other than India’s
great cutter of ribbons, do so as it
rushes through the Jamia University.
It is not that the university did
not protest, it is not that the
university did not ask for the line to
run underground, it did all that, but
was told ‘Sorry’. The arguments of
additional costs and delays in timely
completion of the project are
standard answers to all requests for
that take precedence over everything
else.
WWW.URBANTRANSPORTNEWS.COM
Why is it that no one, but no one,
asks the metro one basic question: At
a time when you are expanding at
breakneck speed and pumping in as
much of your resources and
borrowings into expanding the
network of tracks, rolling stock,
signaling equipment and a whole lot
of other facilities necessary for a
constantly growing network, how can
you make a profit? And if you
continue to increase the cost of
traveling, you will continue to push
out the economically vulnerable, the
very people who a public transport
facility should try its hardest to
retain. What is happening is the
exact opposite.
After the last increase introduced a
few months ago, the metro lost
145,000 passengers daily, that comes
to 4,350,000 per month 0r 52,200,000
per year. Instead of accepting this
decline, all that the DMRC has been
doing is to add the new passengers
who have begun to travel on the
newly added lines and to say that
instead of a decline there is a net gain.
The intentions are clear, project
obfuscation has replaced all other
claims about providing an efficient
and affordable transport system to
the residents of Delhi.
56
…And if you continue to increase
the cost of traveling, you will
continue to push out the
economically vulnerable, the very
people who a public transport
facility should try its hardest to
retain. What is happening is the
exact opposite. After the last
increase introduced a few months
ago, the metro lost 145,000
passengers daily, that comes to
4,350,000 per month 0r
52,200,000 per year. Instead of
accepting this decline, all that the
DMRC has been doing is to add
the new passengers who have begun
to travel on the newly added lines
and to say that instead of a decline
there is a net gain.
If despite all noises about an efficient
transport system, about building among
the most modern and most punctual
urban transport network in the world,
you end up driving away the very
people in whose name the institution
was created, then you need to take a
hard look at your priorities. Are you
heading towards becoming a daily
commute only for the middle and upper
middle class? Then there is a need to
redefine your brief.
***
The author is a filmmaker, writer, and
heritage buff. The opinions expressed in
this column are that of the writer. The
facts and opinions expressed here do not
reflect the views of editorial team of
Urban Transport News/Urban Transport
Infrastructure Magazine.
Urban Transport Infrastructure | November 2018