Urban rail transit in India

Suburban rail plays a major role in the public transport system of many major Indian cities. These services are operated by Indian Railways. Suburban rail is a rail service between a central business district and the suburbs, a conurbation or other locations that draw large numbers of people on a daily basis. The trains are called suburban trains. These trains are also referred to as "local trains" or "locals". The suburban rail systems in Hyderabad, Pune, Barabanki–Lucknow, Lucknow–Kanpur and Bengaluru do not have dedicated suburban tracks but share tracks with long-distance trains. The suburban rail system of Chennai and Mumbai have both dedicated tracks and tracks shared with long-distance trains.

The first suburban rail system in India is Mumbai Suburban Railway which started operations in 1853. The Kolkata Suburban Railway has the largest network in the entire country.

Suburban trains that handle commuter traffic are all electric multiple units (EMUs). They usually have nine or twelve coaches, sometimes even fifteen to handle rush hour traffic. One unit of an EMU train consists of one power car and two general coaches. Thus a nine coach EMU is made up of three units having one power car at each end and one at the middle. The rakes in the suburban rails run on 25 kV AC.[1] Ridership on India's suburban railways has risen from 1.2 million in 1970–71 to 4.4 million in 2012–13. The suburban railways of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai account for about 7.1% of the Indian Railways 20819.3  million train kilometres but contribute 53.2% of all railway passengers.[2] In some cities of India, the opening of rapid transit systems have led to a decline in the use of the suburban rail system.

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There are currently 13 operational rapid transit (also called 'metro') systems in 21 cities in India. For instance, the Delhi Metro itself is connected to few other nearby cities in the National Capital Region.[5] As of August 2019, India has 678.52 kilometres (421.61 miles) of operational metro lines and 540 stations.[6] A further 500+ km of lines are under construction. Metro rail lines in India are composed of mainly standard gauge. Projects like the Kolkata Metro and Delhi Metro used broad gauge for their earliest lines but all new projects in India are on standard gauge as rolling stock is of standard gauge.

Apart from the Kolkata metro (which forms its own zone of Indian Railways), these rapid transit metro lines are not operated by Indian Railways but by separate local authorities. In addition to their metro systems, the cities of Chennai and Hyderabad have mass transit systems operated by the Indian Railways, known as the Chennai MRTS and the Hyderabad MMTS, respectively.

The first rapid transit system in India is the Kolkata Metro, which started operations in 1984. The Delhi Metro has the largest network in the entire country.[7] The newest metro opened is Nagpur Metro on 8 March 2019.

In 2006, the National Urban Transport Policy proposed the construction of a metro rail system in every city with a population of 20 lakh (2 million).[8][9] On 11 August 2014, Union Government announced that it would provide financial assistance, for the implementation of a metro rail system, to all Indian cities having a population of more than 1 million.[10][11] In May 2015, the Union Government approved the Union Urban Development Ministry's proposal to implement metro rail systems in 50 cities. The majority of the planned projects will be implemented through special purpose vehicles, which will be established as 50:50 joint ventures between the Union and respective State Government. The Union Government will invest an estimated ₹5 lakh crore (US$70 billion).[12][13] In a new draft policy unveiled in March 2017, the Central Government stated that it wanted state governments to consider metro rail as the "last option" and implement it only after considering all other possible mass rapid transit systems. The decision was taken due to the high cost of constructing metro rail systems.[14] In August 2017, the Union Government announced that it would not provide financial assistance to new metro rail project, unless some sort of private partnership is involved.[15][16][17]

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The Mumbai Monorail, which opened on 2 February 2014, is the first operational monorail system used for rapid transit in independent India.[68] Many other Indian cities have monorail projects, as a feeder system to the metro, in different phases of planning.

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Light rail or light rail transit (LRT) is a form of urban rail transit using rolling stock similar to a tramway, but operating at a higher capacity, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. Two light rail projects have been proposed respectively in Delhi and Kolkata. There would be a total number of 68 stations of light rail in India.

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In addition to trains, trams were introduced in many cities in the late 19th century, though almost all of these were phased out. The Trams in Kolkata is currently the only tram system in the country. The Calcutta Tramways Company (now under WBTC) is in the process of upgrading the existing tramway network at a cost of ₹240 million (US$3.4 million).[81]

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There are three metro rolling stock manufacturers in India under the Union Government's Make in India program, 75% of the rolling stock procured for use on Indian metro systems are required to be manufactured in India.[82]

The subject of Railways is in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, giving Parliament the exclusive power to enact legislation concerning it. According to former Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath, "Since the Metro rail is a central subject, it has been decided that all such projects in the country, whether within one municipal area or beyond, shall be taken up under the Central Metro Acts."[93]

Construction of metros in India is governed by the centrally enacted The Metro Railways (Construction of Works) Act, 1978 which defines itself as an act to provide for the construction of works relating to metro railways in the metropolitan cities and for matters connected therewith.[94] Operation and maintenance of metros are governed by The Delhi Metro Railway (Operation and Maintenance) Act, 2002. Both laws were amended in 2009 with the passing of The Metro Railways (Amendment) Act, 2009.[95] The amendment expanded the coverage of both the acts to all metropolitan areas of India.

Initially, state governments attempted to implement metro rail projects through various Tramways Act. However, the Commissioner of Railways Safety (CRS), who operates under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is tasked with providing safety certification for metro rail projects. The CRS refused safety certification unless the projects were implemented under a Metro Act enacted by the state government and published in The Gazette of India.[96] Research Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), another railway entity, also refused certification to projects not implemented under the criteria. Subsequently, several state governments have enacted their own Metro Acts.[96]