Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday inaugurated the country’s first driverless train on the Delhi Metro’s Magenta Line.
Stating that unlike previous regimes, his government has taken steps towards urbanisation, Mr. Modi said that by 2025 metro services will expand to 25 cities across India from the current 18.
“In Delhi, discussions aro-und the metro rail service went on for a long time but it became operational only during former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s tenure. In 2014, only 248 km of metro lines were operational. Today, at 700 km, it is almost three times of what it was earlier. We are working to expand it further to 1,700 km by 2025,” said Mr. Modi.
‘Ease of living’
The Prime Minister said that the expanding metro network was an indication of “ease of living” among the citizens. Crediting his government for stressing on the importance of urbanisation, he added that specific needs of each city was catered to.“Each city has different needs and challenges. One single policy would not have sufficed. In cities where passenger numbers are less, work is being done on the MetroLite version. Similarly, MetroNeo is being planned in cities where the ridership is less. It would be built at 25% cost of the normal metro. Also, for cities where there are large waterbodies, a system of Water Metro is being worked upon,” he said.
Mr. Modi also stressed on the fact that apart from being a mode of public transport, metro rail services were also an efficient way of reducing pollution by taking thousands of vehicles off the roads and reducing traffic jams that would cause pollution.
He said that with “dozens of companies” engaged in the manufacturing of metro components and four companies manufacturing metro coaches in the country, Make In India and a self-reliant country was getting boosted.
The National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) was also introduced by Mr. Modi for use on the Airport Express Line. “Through such consolidation of systems, the strength of the country is being harnessed in a more coordinated and efficient manner. The NCMC will give access to all modes of transportation and will help do away with long queues for tokens,” he said.
