15 Indian cities where Metro train work is going on

New Delhi: With over 500 km of Metro rail line already operational in several cities of India like Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, etc, at least 15 other cities in India are right now working on Metro trains. Union minister of state for housing and urban affairs (MoHUA) Hardeep S. Puri said more than 664 km of Metro rail projects in 15 cities are presently under various stages of implementation, while more than 515 km of Metro line are already operational in India.

Among the cities that are working on Metro trains are Indore, Bhopal, Kanpur, Agra, Meerut, Pune, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Vijayawada, Kozhikode, Coimbatore, Patna, Guwahati, Visakhapatnam and Varanasi.

Providing details of the Metro Rail projects presently under operation or implementation stage, Puri said several new cities are now aspiring to have Metro Rail Systems. The state governments and union territories have been advised to prepare the Detailed Project Report (DPR) in line with the provisions in the Metro Rail Policy 2017 and submit it to the central government.

Also read: How metro rail networks are spreading across India

Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) projects comprising 373 kms between Delhi-Meerut, Delhi-Panipat and Delhi-Alwar are also under planning stage now.

Approvals for all new metro projects need provision of last mile connectivity for passengers. Provision of last mile connectivity for the Delhi Metro by a newly created entity is at an advanced stage and is likely to be completed soon, Puri said.

The ministry released funds to various Metro Rail projects to the tune of ₹ 9,286.09 crore in 2015-16, ₹ 15,298.61 crore in 2016-17, ₹ 13,956.23 crore in 2017-18 and ₹ 7,481.28 crore in 2018-19 (upto September 30, 2018).

As per policy, the central government provides financial support for Metro rail projects in the form of grant to states up to 10% of project cost or in the form 50:50 equity sharing with state governments or viability gap funding to the extent of 20% of the capital cost of public transport projects under PPP model.