India is moving towards a metro network of more than 700 kilometres within the next few years and the Central Government has the vision to have metro systems across 50 cities in the country in the days to come,” said Hardeep Puri, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs, at the Metro Bhawan on Tuesday.
Addressing the inaugural session of the Community of Metros (CoMET) 2018 Management Meeting at the Metro Bhawan, the Minister stated, “Today 425 kilometres of metro lines are operational in 10 cities. Metro projects in India are not only perceived as a solution to transportation requirements but as a means to transform cities. As part of his vision, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking at a situation where 50 Indian cities will have metro rails.”
Describing the Delhi Metro as the forerunner of India’s metro story, Puri said that it is now operating on a network of 231 kilometres and carrying three million people every day and in a year’s time, the network length in the National Capital Region was going to cross 350 kilometres which would place Delhi Metro among the top five large metro systems in the world.
A senior Delhi Metro official said that CoMET (Community of Metros) is a worldwide organisation of metro systems. On Tuesday, participants from all these metro systems along with experts from the Railway and Transport Strategy Centre, Imperial College, london attended the annual meeting, hosted by the Delhi Metro this year.
“The metro policy announced last year would further propel the development of metro system in India. This policy enables greater private participation, innovative financing, value capital finance and provides more options of financing by the Government for creation of metro rail infrastructure. This will go a long way in further boosting the growth of metro rail,” said Puri.
“The phenomenal growth of the metro sector in India has created safe, comfortable, affordable travel as well as mitigated pollution to a great extent and has also provided an opportunity to global players for investment in the country. Many manufacturers, including international brands, have established manufacturing facilities and units here.
“The Government of India has a Make in India programme in which indigenisation has been a key ingredient in the contract conditions which we stipulate for procurement of metro rail systems across the country due to which more and more international firms are looking at these prospects,” he added.
As part of the CoMET 2018 Management Meeting, metro rail experts from across the globe are deliberating on a range of issues with the objective of further improving the quality of metro services across cities. Delhi Metro Chairman Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Secretary DS Mishra and Managing Director Dr Mangu Singh too were present on the occasion.