Despite massive traffic jams and heavy air traffic, there is no proposal of metro rail connectivity to airports in Bangalore, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Pune, Noida and Greater Noida. Interestingly, Bangalore, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune are part of future smart cities. At present, only Delhi and Chennai have metro connectivity with airports while Mumbai, lucknow and Nagpur have made provisions in its DPRs to airport connectivity.
A parliamentary standing committee on Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has asked the Ministry to pursue and insist vigorously for inclusion of airport connectivity in these cities as well in addition to the detailed project reports of ongoing projects already approved.
"It is an unfortunate revelation that in important cities like Bangalore, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Pune which are part of the future Smart Cities, there is no provision for airport connectivity in their Detailed Projects Reports (DPRs). Since Metro Rail is for the next several decades from now, and is meant to cater to our future generations too, the planning done now should be really futuristic," the report said.
According to International Business Machines Corp report, Bangalore is the second most congested city after Delhi. According to Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry officials, the traffic problem both in road and air is increasing with every passing day in cities like Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Noida. "There is an urgent need to plan metro connectivity to airports in these cities," said officials.
The report said that the Budget Estimate and Revised Estimate in the year 2017-18 was Rs 18,000 crore. The actual expenditure incurred till December 31,2017, was Rs 12142 crore, that is 67.45 percent of the total outlay. Interestingly, the Budget allocation for the year 2018-19 for metro rail networks across the city is Rs 15,000 crore. There is a reduction of Rs 3000 crore this year as compared to last year.
According to report, the first and last mile connectivity of metro rail has always been a concern of this committee. It has been apprised that Delhi Metro has a fleet of 242 buses as on February 01, 2018 being run on 40 routes in addition to authorised e-rickshaws services in NCR towns.
In Chennai, electric bogey service has been arranged from airport metro station to the airport. Bicycle scheme has also been arranged from most metro stations as last mile connectivity. In Kochi, steps are being taken for inviting feeder aggregators in all the stations.