It is rumoured that the bids for the Metro Express close this week. Two Indian companies have tendered for the project which is partially financed through a Rs9.9 billion grant from India – Afcons – an experienced giant which had already worked on the project when it was first launched by the previous government – and Larsen & Toubro.

A long way to Delhi

We went through the customary manual frisking and security – a compulsory step before you enter any public place in India – and I inserted my token into the familiar looking machine. The automatic gates opened. From then on, I could have been anywhere in the world. Crowds of people were making their way onto the different platforms. The usual arrival and next-station announcements and the monster zoomed past us at dazzling speed, giving us just enough time to catch a glimpse of the dozens of adverts displayed on the eight coaches, the first of which is reserved for women. We waited for the large crowds to alight and we pushed our way onto the Delhi Metro.

Outside, traffic is still chaotic and rather congested but nothing like what we had seen prior to the construction of the Delhi Metro. And the city is much less polluted. Indeed, The Delhi Metro has been certified by the United Nations as the first metro rail to get carbon credits for helping to reduce pollution levels by 630,000 tonnes every year.

We held on tight as we would in any metro. It was fast and soon we had to alight again. The stations looked identical to the ones in London or Paris. Except for the notices warning people that spitting is prohibited, there was no reminder that we were in India. And, for all intents and purposes, we could have been anywhere.

The crowds were overwhelming. Imagine the whole of the Mauritian population travelling together to various places on the same day and that is not even half of the Delhi commuters. The Delhi Metro transports 2.8 million passengers a day on average and it is projected that, by December, the ridership will go up to 3.5 million, one of the largest in the world, with about 2,000 trips a day. Inaugurated in December 2002, the Delhi Metro covers 213 kilometres across 160 stations between 5.30am and midnight. It is a boon for travellers as the fares range between eight and 30 Indian rupees, making it the cheapest metro in the world.

But even with such low fares, the Delhi Metro is making operational profits. Eighty per cent of the revenue comes from activities around the metro rather than from fares which constitute only 20% of the revenue: businesses, hotels, museums, you mention it, they have thought of it and implemented it.

As far as speed is concerned, it is interesting to note that most of the metro trains around the world run at a speed of 80-100 km/hr. The Delhi Airport Express was designed to run at a max speed of 135km/hr but has been capped at 105 km/hr. The system has a mix of underground and elevated stations, with very few at-grade stations outside the congested areas of Delhi.

Currently, there are more than 160 metro systems in 54 countries across the world. Of course, any patriot would dream of having such a system in his own country. It is the only system capable of transporting large numbers of commuters in one trip. It reduces pollution, it soothes stress, it lowers the petroleum bill and it propels the country into modernity.

The snag

So why am I not jumping for joy at the government’s intention to go ahead with the Metro Express, which was marketed to us at a grand opening ceremony costing Rs7.5m and sold as a dream we must all have?

To begin with, the change of name to the “Metro Express” is very unfortunate for a transport system which – according to figures given by experts and not denied by the authorities – is going to run at the speed of 19 km/hr! It is a far cry from the Delhi Metro whose speed ranges between 80 and 105 km/hr. In fact, it is NOT a metro. It is more like the archaic tram. While some countries are competing for the latest technology to save time and propel the country into the future; while countries like Japan are experimenting with flying trains; while other places like the island of YAS in Abu Dhabi and the city of Lagos in Nigeria are set to travel by the futuristic transport system skyTran by 2020, we are mortgaging our children’s future to build an archaic system which runs at 19 km/hr! Either we can afford modernity or we can’t. No modern system loses sight of time – the most expensive commodity these days.

Secondly, to bring down the cost – penny-wise and pound-foolish – a large chunk of the areas which, in the original plan drawn by the previous government, were supposed to be elevated, to avoid having the metro interfere with the traffic below, have been changed to ground level. Some of this has been done in areas where traffic is very heavy. Far from helping traffic decongestion, the Metro Express – as it is quite surprisingly called – will worsen the congestion in these areas.

Add to this the cost of the project: it varies from one day to the other and depends on which minister is giving the information. We have had two very different figures tossed at us in the same week by two different ministers. Most of the details of the cost are shrouded in utter secrecy. The government is very reluctant to come clean with the figures, taking into account the probable cost overruns.

Last but not least, looking at the government’s record since it took over two and a half years ago, I do not see anything which makes me feel at ease with such a big project. They messed up the port project, they messed up Heritage City big time, they destroyed big conglomerates and put an end to perfectly legal contracts, leaving us with big bills to pick up, they have been unable to repair a 300-metre stretch of road in two and a half years, they introduced measures which have not reduced the number of accidents and deaths on our roads, they made a total mess of the ID card… I personally do not trust them with the future of my children.

I am not against modernity. Quite the opposite. Let’s have a modern system. Like the Delhi Metro. If we can’t afford it, let’s talk about alternatives. Let the interest of the country supersede the personal ambitions of the few.

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