Delhi Metro, India

Stifling road traffic congestion in Delhi, population approximately 16 million, had become an economic liability. With more motor vehicles than Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai combined, overcrowding and pollution was threatening the capital's ability to reach its potential in the rapidly expanding Indian economy.

Calcutta/Kolkata opened India's first metro (16.5km) in 1984, but that project had not inspired confidence in the national government to promote further schemes.

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was established on 5 March 1995, by the Government of India and the Government of Delhi, to build a metro system in Delhi.

The project

After more than 40 years of studies into a rail-based mass transit system, DMRC began construction on 1 October 1998.

On 24 December 2002, the first section of Line 1 from Shahdara to Tis-Hazari was opened.

Principal funding has been by a loan from Japan and Indian public funds (as equity). By November 2006, all three lines in Phase 1 with an underground corridor of 13km and surface corridor of 52.10km totalling 65km (40.4 miles) were operational, three years ahead of schedule. The multi-line operation appears to be stimulating Metro take-up, with 43% reporting the use of at least two trains per trip by autumn 2007.

Delhi Metro was designed to be integrated with other public transport and DMRC signed an agreement with bus operator Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) to integrate management and through-ticketing.

However, a limited take-up has led DMRC itself to supply around 200 buses of a quality consistent with Metro operations to work feeder routes to stations.

Selected private bus operators will pay back DMRC over five years. There are 18 designated parking sites at Metro stations to further encourage use of the system.

Infrastructure

Line 1, including the phase 2 extensions opened in November 2009, between Dilshad Garden and Rithala, is 25.09km long with 21 stations and with rolling stock of 21 trains.

Line 2, including the phase 2 extension, between Jahangirpuri and Central Secretariat, is underground for its entire 11km (ten stations) length, passing through the city centre and business district at Connaught Place. Stations, 12.85m below ground, were built by cut-and-cover methods except at Chawri Bazar (20m down) where tunnelling was employed. Line 2 has rolling stock of 12 trains.

Line 3, 32.10km (31 stations) long, beginning at Indiraprasthan, is mostly elevated or at grade with a short underground section in central New Delhi, and intersects with Line 2 at Connaught Place. It does not connect with Line 1, and runs westwards from Barakhamba Road in the city centre to the western township of Dwarka. Line 3 has rolling stock of 27 trains. Phase 1 was completed successfully on 11 November 2006 with the opening of Line 3.

There are escalators and elevators at all stations, with tactile tiles to guide the visually impaired from outside the stations to the trains.

A challenging construction project was Mandi House on Line 3, managed by British company Mott Macdonald. Located under Sikandra Road, an important and busy thoroughfare, much of the station had to be built top-down, with the diaphragm wall panels built from ground level to form the permanent walls of the station. As part of their environmental policy, many Delhi Metro stations are equipped for rainwater collection.

The total cost of Phase 1 was INR105.7bn ($2.3m).

The Phase 2 network is planned in ten lines, of which four lines were completed by 2009. The completed lines include the Shahdara-Dilshad Garden line completed on 4 June 2008, the Vishwavidyalaya–Jahangirpuri line completed on 4 February 2009, the Indraprastha-Noida Sector 32 City Centre completed on 10 May 2009 and the Yamuna Bank-Anand Vihar ISBT completed on 12 November 2009.

The remaining six lines' construction is in progress. These lines include the Inderlok–Kirti, Nagar-Mundka, Central Secretariat–Sushant Lok, Dwarka Sector 9-Dwarka Sector 2, New Delhi–Airport, Anand Vihar–KB Vaishali and Central Secretariat–Badarpur routes.

Rolling stock

RThe first wave of rolling stock was manufactured by a consortium comprising Hyundai Rotem, Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation. Initial sets were built by ROTEM in South Korea, with later examples completed in India by public sector undertaking Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML). BEML is also responsible for the manufacturing coaches under technology transfer agreement. The manufacturing is under progress.

The air-conditioned trains consist of 3.2m-wide, stainless steel, lightweight coaches with gangways, running in four-coach formations, although eight is possible. The trains feature automatic doors, secondary air suspension and brakes controlled by microprocessor. The coaches are designed to possess many advanced features such as CCTV cameras having eight-hour backup, charging points for cell phones and laptops, air-conditioning and heaters during winter.

Each can accommodate about 1,500 people, 240 being seated. Maximum speed is 80km/h (50mph), with a 20-second dwell time at stations. Delhi Metro has a fleet of 70 trains with 280 coaches being run by DMRC every day. By 2010 the number is expected to rise to 153 with 900 coaches. The trains have four deports at Khyber Pass, Najafgarh, Shastri Park and Yamuna Bank.

Line 1 service intervals are three to four-and-half minutes between six and 11, although the design capacity is two minutes. Stock allocation in 2009 is 21 trains (Line 1), 12 (Line 2) and 27 (Line 3). Phase 1 lines have 1.676m broad gauge rolling stock. The phase II lines and some future lines are likely to be employed with standard gauge rolling stock.

In March 2008 Bombardier Transportation announced an €87m ($137m) contract for 84 MOVIA metro cars, a follow-on to the 340 ordered in July 2007. The new vehicles are to be deployed on the Phase 2 expansion, for which application DMRC has requested a changed configuration to 37 four-car sets and 46 six-car sets, which are expected to accommodate 1,178 and 1,792 commuters respectively. Later it won the contract of $590m pertaining to phase 2 for about 400 coaches. Each train can accommodate 1,506 commuters.

DMRC received the first MOVIA metro car from Germany in an Antonov aircraft on 26 February 2009. The first 36 vehicles will be manufactured in Goerlitz, Germany, while the remaining 388 cars will be built at Bombardier's Indian manufacturing facility at Savli in South Gujarat.

Signalling and communications

Power is 25kV ac overhead supply under rigid equipment on underground sections, flexible elsewhere. There is Centralised Automatic Train Control (CATC) comprising Automatic Train Operation (ATO), Automatic Train Protection (ATP) and Automatic Train Signalling (ATS) systems.

Intercoms are provided for emergency communication between the passengers and the driver in each coach, and on-train announcements are in Hindi and English. There are route maps and LCD display systems in every coach. Security is supported by about 1,200 CCTV cameras at stations.

Fare collection is through contactless, stored-value smartcards. The Metro has its own police force, and a training school at Shastri Park is run in association with Hong Kong MTR for operational and maintenance staff.

In October 2007 DMRC awarded Bombardier Transportation a $43m contract for the design, manufacture, supply, installation and testing of signalling equipment. The CITYFLO 350 system will be installed on 37km of two new line sections of the Phase 2 expansion.

The electronic interlocking, operation and automation control systems for the third line were supplied by Siemens Transportation Systems.

The future

Although in 2007 the system operated at below projected passenger levels, partly ascribed to train capacity proving lower in practice than projected, Delhi Metro has achieved an operating profit. About 850,000 people used the Metro in 2008. Carrying 5% of the city's commuters, the project is proving to not only meet the anticipated aim of attracting former road users and reducing road casualties in areas it serves, the Metro is also stimulating economic development in proximity to stations. To further discourage vehicle use in connection with Metro use, a low-cost cycle hire and secure parking trial has been launched.

Development of the Phase 2 lines that will add around 121km to the network is well under way, and a 2010 completion is anticipated in time for Delhi's hosting of the Commonwealth Games.

The first section of Phase 2 was opened in June 2008. Up to July 2009, only 37% of the work had been completed. Phase 3 and Phase 4, that cover a network area of 413.8km, will be opened to the public in 2015 and 2020 respectively.

Aside from the four phases, a new line is being constructed to operate between Noida Sector-62 to Greater Noida,crossing over the Indraprastha - Noida Sector-32 line.

The Ghaziabad Development Authority has plans of constructing Phase 5, which extends the Delhi Metro line to Ghaziabad by expanding the Vaishali line to Mehrauli via Indirapuram (Ghaziabad).

As with Phase 1, Delhi Metro liases with other Asian mass transit operators, bringing in expertise from Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan. In turn, Mumbai Metro is drawing upon operational experience in Delhi.

A welcome part of the system for overseas visitors is the 19.5km (12.1 mile), ten minute interval, extension to Indira Gandhi International Airport. Featuring check-in and luggage facilities, journey times to the centre are cut to 16 minutes from the present one hour by road. The 135km/h (84mph) link will be extended as the airport adds new terminal facilities. The first construction contracts, to Alpine-Samsung-HCC and Afcons, for 7.5km of line were awarded in October 2007.

Delhi Metro is thought to have inspired greater support for mass transit systems. India has many projects now in the planning stage or under construction (Kolkata extension; Mumbai; Bengaluru/Bangalore; HyderabadBangalore). Anticipating the award of the 2014 Commonwealth Games and a possibility of expanding their current small metro operation by then, representatives from Glasgow have visited Delhi to see how the system has become operational in such short time. With confidence in the completion of Phase 2 being on schedule or earlier, Delhi Metro seems likely to reach a master plan target of 413km including all the phases by 2021.