Parliament Question: Metro Rail Projects in Southern States

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1992 TO BE ANSWERED ON DECEMBER 11, 2025 METRO RAIL PROJECTS IN SOUTHERN STATES NO.1992. SHRI S VENKATESAN: THIRU DAYANIDHI MARAN: SHRI SURESH KUMAR SHETKAR: SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B: SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH: SHRI K E PRAKASH: DR. GANAPATHY RAJKUMAR P: DR. T SUMATHY ALIAS THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN: THIRU D M KATHIR ANAND: Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government has rejected multiple metro rail proposals submitted by southern States including the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for the Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects citing 2017 Metro Rail Policy and population of that area being below Twenty Lakh, if so, the details thereof along with the reasons for approving similar metro projects in several northern and western Tier-II cities such as Agra, Bhopal, Indore and Nagpur having comparable or even lower populations; (b) the details of the comparative criteria applied along with the reasons for such regional variation; (c) whether it is a fact that the Government continues to rely on 2011 Census population figures for determining eligibility under the Metro Rail Policy and if so, the reasons therefor; (d) whether the Government is considering current demographic estimates for fast-growing southern cities of the country and if not, the reasons therefor along with the updated figures used for appraisal; (e) whether ridership projections submitted by southern States including Tamil Nadu were rejected without independent or third-party evaluation and if so, the details thereof and if not, the justification for rejecting the DPRs without such scrutiny; …2/--2- (f) whether 50:50 equity-sharing proposals submitted by southern States including Tamil Nadu were declined despite similar funding models having been approved in other regions and if so, the reasons along with the precedents in this regard and if not, the reasons for deviation from earlier decisions; (g) whether phased metro systems, light-metro alternatives or hybrid models combining Bus Rapid Transit System with metro services were examined prior to rejection of these proposals and if so, the details thereof; and (h) whether the Government proposes to reconsider these DPRs in view of the rejection of the Coimbatore and Madurai metro proposals which has caused “deep public resentment” and if so, whether a fixed timeline would be prescribed for their review and further processing and if so, the details thereof? ANSWER THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS (SHRI TOKHAN SAHU) (a)to (h): Urban Transport, which is an integral part of urban development is a State subject. Hence respective Government/ Union Territories are responsible for planning initiation of development of urban transport infrastructure including metro rail projects. Metro projects are cost intensive, therefore need to be planned carefully to ensure long term sustainability. Therefore, metro projects undergo intensive examination in Central Government at different level in term of extant policy guidelines as and when project is posed by State Government. The approval of project is done after examination of proposals in entirety (not necessarily on one criteria), however it is always subject to feasibility of proposal and availability of resources. In view of above, no time lines can be prescribed for approval of such mega projects. The proposals of Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects have been returned mainly due to following reasons: Coimbatore • Low average trip lengths and the existing average speeds on road, the modal shift to metro system is not expected due to negligible time savings. …3/--3- • In addition to Coimbatore Municipal Corporation (CMC) Area, population of Local Planning Area (LPA), has been taken to be served by Metro system. It is difficult for people living in LPA, which is 5 times bigger than CMC area to use proposed metro system. • The projected ridership figure of 5.9 lakh per day for proposed network of 34 km of Coimbatore metro is higher as compared to actual ridership figure of 4 lakh per day on 54.10 km operational network of Chennai Metro phase-1, which is serving larger population. Therefore, projected ridership figures in DPR are not realistic. • At several locations, it is not feasible to construct station due to non availability of enough Right of Way (RoW). Madurai • In the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) submitted by GoTN, it has been clearly stipulated that the current ridership is justifiable for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS). In Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of Coimbatore and Madurai metro project, population of Municipal area as per 2011 census has been indicated as 15.84 lakh and 10.18 lakh respectively. However, Comprehensive Mobility Plan(CMP) of Madurai city indicates population as 15 lakh. The details of metro projects in Southern states with operational length and under construction network length are as under: State Metro Projects Operational(km) Under construction(km) Tamil Nadu Chennai Metro Rail 54.10 119 Project Karnataka Bangalore Metro 96.1 121.16 Projects Telangana Hyderabad Metro 69.0 -- Projects Kerala Kochi Metro projects 28.48 11.2 Total 247.68 251.36 Apart from Metro Rail projects, Central Government has launched PM e-Bus Sewa scheme with outlay of Rs. 20,000 Cr for deployment of 10,000 air conditioned e-buses. Southern States viz. Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana participated in the scheme. However, Tamil Nadu and Kerala did not participate in the scheme. *****