Introduction

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 day.

An average of 60,000 vehicles sold every day in India, it has resulted in widening of gap between demand and   supply of public transport needs.

Then the Metro Rail Arrives

At a time when traffic in mega cities like New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru is slowing down the mobility, an effective public transport system like metro rail has become the core priority of urban administration to ease urban commutation.

Moreover, the Metro Rail is operated on non-pollutant energy and is most preferable in densely populated urban spaces.

 The success of earliest MRT Systems like London Tube and New York Metro led to the development of similar systems across the world. Examples – Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, New Delhi, etc.

 Benefits of metro system over traditional transport system

 Traditional means of transport are outdated and carry only in a limited capacity. They cannot match the growing needs of the population.

Traditional means contribute to pollution and increase traffic.

Loss of time in traffic causes loss of billions of work hours every year.

An innovative public transport system that operates on non-pollutant sources and meets the specific mobility needs of a large population is needed in cities.

Metro rail serves the purpose of being eco-friendly and able to carry a large number of commuters.

Energy Efficiency of Delhi Metro

After the introduction of the Delhi Metro, the number of private vehicles on road got reduced.

According to a survey by Central Road Research Institute, around 3,90,971 vehicles were taken off the roads after Delhi Metro start operating in Delhi.

This, in turn, reduced about 5,53,203 tonnes of CO₂ from the environment every year.

DMRC became the first railway project in the world to win carbon credits.

Delhi Metro has developed its own solar power generation plants on rooftops of station and depots. Currently, DMRC is producing 25 megawatts of solar power annually.

DMRC has adopted several efficient and innovative construction methods.

The Road for Future

In India, metro networks are operational in 10 cities and more projects are being proposed. Metros in cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai are carrying lakhs of commuters every day.

However, these cities need to take lessons and start Social campaigns, Community interaction programmes in the lines of DMRC, to make the metro system a popular choice in other cities also.