Comfort, connectivity, productivity, less pollution, and fuel savings can be the rewards.
Ninad Sheth. K Raghu.
New Delhi/ Bangalore: Across India, the metro rail system is changing the way people commute. Sameer Gupta used to traverse the 22 kilometers from Delhi's Dwarka to the enormously crowded stretches of Chandni Chowk.
"It used to take me an hour and a half and now it's an air-conditioned 25-minute hop! It's so easy now to do business." Comfort, connectivity, productivity, less pollution, a cut in personal transport use and saving on fuels - for India, a revolution on wheels is unfolding.
The revolution has a potential to transform a rapidly urbanising India, which by 2020 will have 60 percent of its population sporting an urban address. The number of Indian cities with more than 10 lakh people is 26.
The minimum mass required for a metro system is a population catchment of a million citizens.
The one city that has the most to look forward to is Mumbai.
Critics of the metro, however, have pointed out that it has two principal deficiencies. The first is the cost which some say will make the system unviable in the long run.
However, while none of the metro systems bar the one in Hong Kong makes a profit directly, they have a roll-on effect on the economy in terms of real estate prices, fuel use, pollution and productivity.
The tech hub Bangalore, which is growing beyond its one-time borders, is a case in point.
As new residential and business localities spring up outside the main city, an effective public transport system has become vital to sustain economic growth, and delays would prove costly.
That's why, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Metro Rail in June, he
called for timely completion of the project. Karnataka has suffered due to delays in projects, from building an expressway to building an airport, thanks to political and bureaucratic hurdles.
"As joint owners, we must ensure it finishes on time in the next three years. In fact, we must start planning for further expansion with an eye on the future needs of this vibrant city," Singh said in Bangalore.
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