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THE Metro Railway in Kolkata, the first of its kind in the country and the fifth in Asia, has, since it commenced commercial services in 1984, been a source of great pride for the people of the city. It was set up with the sole purpose of addressing the traffic problems that plagued the city. To some extent it has succeeded in doing so.
With the second phase of the extension of the Metro under way, its southern most point in Tollygunge will now be connected to New Garia, 8.7 km away. The project was sanctioned in 1999-2000 at a cost of Rs.907 crores. One-third of it will be borne by the West Bengal government. The stretch will cover six new stations and as the alignment passes through a highly congested and heavily built up area, a major portion is elevated over the Tollygunge Canal.
Although the Metro Rail system has proved useful for a sizable section of the people of Kolkata and its performance in the past 20 years has been good, a nagging feeling persists that its objective is yet to be realised fully. "The Metro was designed to decongest the city's roads. I am afraid it has not been able to do that, through no fault of its own, though," A. Chaturvedi, Chief Operations Manager, Kolkata Metro Railway, told Frontline.
According to Chaturvedi, the Metro's main problem is that the 16.45-km stretch on which it plies, just does not attract enough passengers even to meet the maintenance cost. Of the approximately three lakh passengers who use the service daily, only 25 per cent are regular commuters, that is, season-ticket holders; the remaining 75 per cent are those who make random trips. There has been growth in the volume of passengers in the past 10 years, but not significant enough. Where the gross annual income of the Metro is roughly Rs.48 crores, its maintenance cost is a whopping Rs.125 crores. "We have to increase our passenger strength by at least eight to nine lakh a day," Chaturvedi told Frontline.
When the Metro in Kolkata was conceptualised, it was done with a grand scheme. It was envisaged that other than the north-south line in existence today, there would also be an east-west line and the Central Station on Mahatma Gandhi Road, in the heart of Kolkata, would be the central point of the network. It was also envisaged that the Metro's passenger capacity would be around 22 lakh. In fact, according to a study made in 1971, 15 lakh people were expected to use it regularly by 1991. "The projections made earlier have not materialised, as the east-west corridor never came into existence. Even during peak periods, the capacity utilisation of the trains has been around 70 per cent, and only 40 per cent in the early mornings," said Chaturvedi. The frequency of the trains during peak periods is eight minutes and during non-peak periods, 15 minutes. The peak periods during the day are between 9 and 11:30 in the morning and 5 and 7:30 in the evenings - a little over four hours.
"Moreover, of the 83 surface gates of the Metro stations in Kolkata, 20 are always closed. As a result, a considerable portion of commuters who are in a hurry choose another mode of transport rather than walk the entire length of the platform to the next entry point. I believe that by opening these gates we can increase the passenger strength by around 10 per cent. Security concerns are the reason for the closure of these gates. Eleven gates were shut after the attack on the United States Consulate in Kolkata in 2002 and nine more after the recent bomb blasts in London.
We also have to improve the frequency of the trains to three minutes," said Chaturvedi. For this, and also to further ensure the safety of the passenger, the Metro is introducing the CAB signalling system. This involves a series of beacons on the track by which signals are sent, so that power to the track can be stopped in cases of emergency.
It would be unfair to blame the Metro authorities for the relatively low utilisation and frequency of trains, although the National Urban Transport Policy has envisaged the public transport system in an overcrowded metropolis to wean away the middle-class commuters from using motorised transport (personal cars, hired taxis and so on). Unfortunately for the Metro, it has to compete with cheaper modes of public transport such as buses and trams. One should not lose sight of the fact that Kolkata, unlike New Delhi or even Mumbai, has a very large percentage of poor people, with several poor States such as Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa in its vicinity. Quite often they cannot afford even the fare of the Metro, which appears more than reasonable to the upper and middle class users. Further more, experts point to the absence of composite ticketing, which is prevalent in many European countries, where the same ticket can be valid for the underground as well as for buses, trams and even suburban trains. For instance, a traveller from Tollygunge, who has to go to work in Salt Lake, will be in a quandary during office hours if he has to change from Metro midway and take a bus. "It is very important for Kolkata that the Metro expands east-west to reduce road congestion and provide relief to the N.S.C. Bose Road where the traffic is chaotic. It will, in fact, largely solve the traffic problem in Kolkata," said Chaturvedi.
The State government had reportedly made a rough financial estimate of such a project in the recent past and then backed out because of the enormity of the initial capital outlay. One has to realise that according to expert opinion, on an average one kilometre of track underground costs as much as three times that overground. Further more, the estimate mentioned only the initial non-recurring capital outlay. But the recurring liability as the Metro's financial data reveal can be as corrosive as a malignant cancer. It is true, of course, that for the Indian Railways, which wholly owns the Metro system, this may not be very difficult to swallow. But for a State government or a joint venture between the State and the Centre, it may mean a huge financial burden. In fact, all metros in the four megalopolises and the two metropolises of Hyderabad and Bangalore should be financed entirely by the Centre as these have really grown into national cities.
One must, however, admit that the Kolkata Metro has performed most admirably within these constraints, and elicited approbation from visitors from all over the world. Paramount importance is given to ensuring the safety of passengers. The service is impeccable and the trains and the stations are kept spotlessly clean. In fact, an article in The Independent stated: "Calcutta's Metro is cleaner than the underground in London or Paris. It runs better too."
But the fact remains, as Chaturvedi put it, the concept of the metro has not really taken off in the city, as it has not managed to provide adequate relief to traffic congestion. "The fact that the Metro is not getting volumes is not so much a problem for the Railways as it is for Kolkata. We are not worried about the loss, but Kolkata certainly cannot afford to have chaos. An east-west service is absolutely essential and if the resulting expenditure on the Metro can end the traffic snarls of Kolkata, then that expenditure cannot really be counted a loss," said Chaturvedi. There is a lot of merit in what he says, as according to available statistics, there is hardly any underground/metro system that runs without a state subsidy.
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