Investment Proposals Fall By Wayside

The Indian Railways and the Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System have disagreed on the gauge to be used on the Delhi suburban corridor. While Delhi metro wants to use the standard gauge, Indian Railways want broad gauge to be used for all new suburban transportation systems being planned in the country.

General consultants for the project, led by Pacific Consultants International, have advocated the standard gauge (1485 mm) on the Delhi Mass Rapid Transit System corridor. According to them, since the project is a stand-alone system, there is no need to obtain the railways' concurrence.

According to the railways, the standard gauge does not lead to the optimum allocation of resources or economies of scale in the production of rail equipment. It also does not add to customer convenience, they added. Indian Railways have now prepared a white paper on the techno-economic advantages of broad gauge (1676 mm), which is to be circulated among the officials of the board and placed in Parliament.

The paper states the broad gauge is more beneficial to the railways as it allows integration. Integrated systems are currently being used in Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai. Based on this, Rail India Technical and Engineering Services had recommended the use of broad gauge in its detailed project report for Delhi Metro.

This was also because of the peaking characteristics of suburban commuter services. During off-peak periods, railway officials said, permanent ways could be used for the movement of long-distance passenger and freight services as was already being done in existing suburban corridors, resulting in optimum utilisation of highly capital-intensive rail infrastructure.

According to the railways, integration of production of all the suburban corridors is possible if broad gauge systems are utilised. At present, the annual requirement of coaches for replacement is 300 units each year which is being met by the railways' production centres at Chennai and Kapurthala in Punjab. Additional requirements are outsourced from the Bangalore unit of the public sector Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) and Jessops Ltd in Calcutta.

Sources said the adoption of broad gauge led to a more cost-effective rolling stock. The average cost of broad gauge coaches is about Rs 1 crore, whereas standard gauge coaches cost about Rs 6 crore each. Since broad gauge coaches have a width 3.66 metres against the 3.2 metres of standard gauge coaches, the carrying capacity is also higher by 15 per cent. Carrying capacity implies that more passengers can travel on broad gauge, allowing for higher cost recovery.

Delhi metro will require about nine to 10 coaches a year, assuming an average life span of about 30 years.