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National Capital Region Transport Corporation or NCRTC has entered into an agreement with DB India to operate and maintain the 82-km long Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor for 12 years.
NCRTC is a joint venture company of the Centre and states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh under the administrative control of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs. It is mandated to implement the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) project across NCR.
The rail-based transit systems in India are run by public entities, at times by outsourcing certain activities to private contractors. There has been limited participation by the private sector in this sector and till now the scope has generally been limited to the provision of facility management and ancillary services.
Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs issued the Metro Rail Policy in 2017 which, inter alia, advocates the need for private sector participation in regional rail and metro rail projects.
By adopting the long-term private participation model entailing comprehensive outsourcing of O&M activities, NCRTC has initiated steps to fulfil this objective of the Metro Rail Policy-2017.
Deutsche Bahn Engineering and Consultancy India Pvt Ltd or DB India is a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn AG, National Railway Company of Germany.
This initiative is expected to pave the path for the transfer of knowledge, best international practices and managerial services available around the globe to the Indian metro and rail O&M industry. The employment of local engineers will enable the enhancement of existing skill sets by adopting international expertise and best practices. Through this model, it is expected that apart from efficient delivery of services, the private sector involvement will lead to operational efficiencies and optimum utilisation of assets/ resources.
This model incentivises optimised performance through a system of incentives and penalties. The O&M model developed by NCRTC will be able to provide commuters world class customer experience through private O&M operator as well as help boost domestic capacities in the sector, having a multiplier effect. It will also assist in realizing GOI’s goal of brownfield monetization of infrastructure assets due to predictability and transparency of O&M costs.
The implementation of RRTS is part of the ‘Comprehensive Action Plan’ (CAP) for Air Pollution Control in Delhi & NCR’ and the recommendation of the ‘High Powered Committee on Decongesting Traffic in Delhi’. Once operational, a shift of traffic from private modes to a rapid rail system and multimodal integration and seamless connectivity will reduce the energy use by the transport sector in the National Capital Region and will promote ease of living as well as ease of doing business within the NCR. It will also lead to a significant reduction in pollution in the region. It is envisaged that the savings achieved with efficient operations would be recurring in nature and would have a direct impact on the long-term sustainability of RRTS.
