Metro projects get Rs 19,130-crore in Union budget

Feb 02,2022

The Centre has allocated Rs 19,130 crore in the Union Budget 2022-23 for various metro projects in the country.

An outlay of Rs 19,130 cr has been made in the Budget for metro projects across the country.

In November last year, Union minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that 723 km of metro network was operational in 18 cities, and additional over 1,000 km of network under construction in various cities.

Separately, six new proposals were also being evaluated, he had said.

Meanwhile, Delhi Metro officials said in recent years, the Union Ministry of Finance is providing Budget for all metro projects in India, instead of DMRC alone.

Accordingly, in Budget 2022-23, allocation made for all metro projects in India is Rs 19,130 cr. The budgetary allocation in the last fiscal for metro projects was Rs 18,978 cr.

The DMRC network’s current span is nearly 392 km with 286 stations (including the Noida Greater Noida Metro Corridor and Rapid Metro, Gurgaon).

Besides, metro services are operational in many other cities, including Lucknow, Mumbai, Banglore, Kochi, Hydrabad and recently operationalised in Kanpur.

An outlay of Rs 4,710 cr has been made in the Union Budget for projects of National Capital Region Transport Corporation (NCRTC).

“In a major boost to regional connectivity in NCR, Government of India has allocated Rs 4,710 cr to country’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project in the Union Budget presented today in Parliament,” NCRTC said in a statement.

Construction work on the entire 82 km-long Delhi-Ghaziabad Meerut RRTS corridor is in full swing. The corridor will have 25 stations, including two depots and one stabling yard, officials said.

So far, 16 km viaduct of priority section, 1200 piers, and 9,900 piles have been concreted. Foundation work has been completed for 56 km of the corridor, the statement said.

The 17 km priority section between Sahibabad to Duhai is scheduled to be operational by March 2023 and trial runs is expected to begin this year. The complete corridor will be opened for public by 2025, officials said.

RRTS is a strategic investment of the governments to transform the mobility in NCR in line with the GatiShakti masterplan. The continued allocation to RRTS reinforces government’s focus on infrastructure expenditure to catalyse the economic revival after the impact of pandemic, Vinay Kumar Singh, MD, NCRTC, was quoted as saying in the statement.

With a design speed of 180 kmph and operational speed of 160 kmph, the RRTS trains will be unique and one of its kinds in India. The aerodynamic coaches will be self-propelled on electric traction with 25KV AC System. The RRTS trains are being designed with the state-of-the-art latest technology.

NCRTC is a joint venture of the Government of India (50 per cent) and state governments of Haryana (12.5 per cent), Delhi (12.5 or cent), Uttar Pradesh (12.5 per cent) and Rajasthan (12.5 per cent).

It is mandated to design, construct, finance, operate and maintain RRTS in NCR and works under the administrative control of Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, it said.