Chapter 8- Transforming Public Transport in India

With rapid growth of population in the cities and increase in motor vehicles, the urban space in India for creation of the necessary infrastructure is shrinking every year. An average of 60,000 vehicles is sold every day in India. On the other hand, the consistent growth of population is further widening the gap between demand and supply of public transport needs. An effective public transport system like Metro Rail has become the core priority of urban administrations to ease the urban commutation

• Metro rail is operated on non-pollutant energy and is most preferable in densely populated urban spaces. Undoubtedly, the Mass Transit System is by far the most remarkable invention in public transport
• The Metros across the world have undoubtedly smoothened the public transport wherever they were introduced.
• Besides offering the best public transport, cities like Hong Kong and Tokyo are running Metros with operational profit.
• Delhi Metro too earned a spot as an operational profitable metro in the world. This success of Delhi Metro sparked a new era of Metro revolution in India.

Traditional System: A Pollution Hazard

Almost all major cities in the country are facing similar challenges in public transport. Unfortunately, the traditional means of public transport are outdated and carry only limited capacity. They are far from matching the growing needs of the population. Not to forget, they are also contributing to pollution and the never ending traffic woes. With people stuck in traffic, billions of productive working hours are lost every year. The stranded vehicles on roads are also intensifying vehicles on roads are also intensifying the toxic emissions in the urban sphere. Given the current scenario the cities need an innovative public transport system that operates on non-pollutant resources and meets the specific mobility needs of large populations. Metro provides an eco-friendly and comfortable travel experience.

Charging Urban Mobility needs:

Building the metro alone does not ensure its successful operation. In order to make a system viable and reliable, we must constantly update the system to match the changing needs of commuters. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation’s success is owed to the countless innovative practices that were initiated in every stage of its journey.

Delhi Metro: Energy Efficient Techniques:

DMRC became the first railway project in the world to win carbon credits. The carbon credit is a permit which allows a country or organization to produce certain amount of emissions which can be traded if full allowance is not used.

Delhi Metro is one of the pioneers in adopting energy efficient techniques. In order to bring down the energy consumption levels, the Delhi Metro developed its own solar power generation plants on rooftops of stations and depots.

It adopted different methods such as regenerating braking and model shift projects for optimal use of the energy.

Creating Awareness:

• The early years were more challenging for DMRC. When metro was launched, it was an alien system for many living in the close vicinity of metro stations.
• DMRC had to bring a sea of change in the culture through awareness campaigns to make them use the advance facilities offered in a metro.
• Numerous social campaigns to raise awareness on the use of escalators, lifts, automatic face collection gates and usage of smart cards were carried out. For this, DMRC used highly engaging theatre arts such as Nukkad Nataks and Puppet Shows.

Delhi Metro experiment shows that MRT system is capable of carrying large number of people from one point to another without occupying too much space for infrastructure. This system is the answer to future transport challenges that will emerge as the cities grow bigger. In future, there shall be more successful metro projects like Delhi Metro.