Railway and Metro Infrastructure - Sustainable, eco-friendly and cost-efficient mode of transport

Abhishek Gupta
Vice President & Sector Head - Corporate Ratings, ICRA

Railways are the most efficient land-based transport mode for long-distance traffic while Metro Rail is a reliable, environment-friendly solution for urban mobility in densely populated cities.

Railway Infrastructure

India has the fourth largest rail network in the world, spanning over 68,000 route km (rkm). The railway acts as lifeline of the country as it carries over 23 million passengers every day. Further, it is also one of the largest freight transporters in the world, with 1,512 MT of freight recorded in FY2023. Railway transportation is one of the most economical, environment-friendly and efficient freight transportation systems for longer distances. However, there have been challenges in leveraging on this potential due to which the Railways' share in the overall land-based freight transport is significantly lower than that of road-based freight transport and is estimated at between 30-36%.

The Indian Railways' National Rail Plan (NRP), rolled out in 2020, had the primary objective of increasing Railways' modal share to 45% by 2030 by achieving higher efficiency through an enhanced network and rolling stock fleet. To achieve the same, Indian Railways has been undertaking sizeable capital expenditure over the years towards maintenance, upgradation and modernisation of the railway infrastructure, as well as adopting new technology and high-speed trains.

The railway track infrastructure, the backbone of the railway transportation system, has seen significant improvement over the last years. From between FY2019 and FY2023, the Railways has completed 16,300 rkm of track infrastructure upgradation, which includes construction of new lines, gauge conversion, and doubling of lines, thereby increasing the network size and efficiency. The body is in advance stages of setting up two Dedicated Freight Corridors (DFCs) across the country - the Eastern DFC and the Western DFC - which, besides reducing the transit time and transportation cost for the freight, will also help Indian Railways reduce CO₂ emissions by about 457 million tonne over a 30-year period (as per Indian Railways estimates). Other DFC projects on similar lines are likely to be taken up and are in the planning stages currently.

The Indian Railways has also achieved significant progress in terms of electrification of its network, with over 28,500 rkm such projects completed in the last five years. Due to this, about 90% of the broad-gauge network in the country has already been brought under electrification by March 2023. It is also a step towards making the Indian Railways a Net Zero Carbon Emitter
by 2030.

For the current financial year - FY2024, the Central Government has budgeted a capital outlay of Rs 2.6 lakh crore for Railways of which about 0.92 lakh crore is planned towards track infrastructure, including construction of new lines, gauge conversion, doubling of lines, track renewals, and electrification. Apart from the rail track infrastructure, significant investment is also required towards enhancing the freight-handling capacity and rolling stock.

Continued enhancement and upgradation of rail infrastructure will help Indian Railways reduce transit time and in becoming a more cost-competitive alternative to road freight transportation. Given that Railways can be more eco-friendly and a cost-efficient mode of freight transportation, it is imperative to focus on increasing its modal share for meeting the future transportation requirements on a sustainable basis.

Metro rail infrastructure

Cost-effective urban mobility, particularly in public transport systems, is an essential part of sustainable urban infrastructure development. Metro rail is a faster, efficient, and environment-friendly mode of public transport for cities with high population density. With increased focus, metro rail projects have seen a significant traction in India over the last decade. The metro network in India has sharply expanded over the last decade from about 116 km of operational and under implementation network in 2006 to about 860 km of operational metro rail network in 20 cities as of April 2023. Over the years, India's metro rail network has grown handsomely to figure amongst the top ten largest metro networks in the world. However, this is still modest in comparison to some large countries like China which has a ~4,000-km long metro rail network. The large urban population with many cities with over a million population provides tremendous potential for expansion of the metro network in India. The operational metro network is expected to increase at a faster pace with multiple new metro rail projects approved/under implementation and an even larger network of over 1,000 km under implementation/proposal stage. Apart from the operational and under-implementation metro projects, 15 cities have plans for metro development, which has the potential of over 1,400 km of metro rail network.

While the metro rail system is emerging as a dependable and cost-effective mobility solution for the masses, last mile connectivity is often seen as a challenge in achieving optimal ridership in metro rails. The Metro Rail Policy, 2017 had stipulated that every proposal for Metro Rail should necessarily include proposals for feeder systems that help enlarge the catchment area of each metro station at least to 5 km.

While metro is a cleaner solution for urban mobility, development of metro rail infrastructure is highly capital intensive, which acts as a constraint in enhancing metro network at a faster pace. The cost of construction of metro projects is estimated to range between Rs. 90-120 crore per km for at-grade metro, while it is significantly higher for elevated metro and underground metro (Rs 200-1,000 cr/km) projects. Given this, metro may not be economically viable for smaller cities. The government has proposed alternative options in the form of MetroLite, and MetroNeo (tyred metro) which can be constructed at a lower cost, however, their success remains monitorable. For effective utilisation of this eco-friendly mobility solution, feeder connectivity to the metro rail network is crucial.

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