Railways Eager To Be Spared From Urban Core Investments
What began with Konkan Railway is now gradually becoming the norm. State governments are increasingly putting money in metropolitan transport projects in their respective states, thus easing the pressure on Indian Railways.
The ministry of railways has gradually managed to reduce the financial burden of developing urban rail infrastructure and passing it on to state governments. It is now aggressively lobbying to persuade the government to allocate separate funds for metropolitan transport projects in the annual plan for the ministry of urban affairs and sparing the railways the cost of investing in urban infrastructure.
At present, metropolitan transport projects worth Rs 2,162 crore are under construction. Of these, the Indian Railways is investing only Rs 737 crore. A total of 16 metropolitan projects are under construction at present.
They include eight projects in the central and western railway sections in and around Mumbai, three in and around Chennai and five in and around Calcutta.
From the view point of state governments, metropolitan rail projects are a good way to ease road congestion and high level of pollution in the major cities while at the same time ensuring cheaper and faster travel for the common man. The idea is to build on the existing railway infrastructure by merely extending it to new suburban areas around the metropolitan cities.
This is why the state governments of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have gone to the extent of two-third of the capital cost of projects in Navi Mumbai and Chennai besides the entire cost of the land which is provided free by them.
In turn, state governments are allowed to exploit the air space over station buildings along the suburban rail systems and thus plough back a part of the initial investment.
Besides new projects taken up on 2:1 basis of investment, other projects involving upgradation of existing railway metro networks are being taken up with the state governments sharing half the cost and the Indian Railways the other half. On its part, the railways have been encouraging states to participate in the capital cost of the projects.
Accordingly, the government of Maharashtra is sharing 50 per cent of the cost of the Mumbai Urban Development Project -II ( MUTP-II) for upgrading the existing suburban system in Mumbai, while the government of Tamil Nadu is sharing half the cost of gauge conversion in the suburban section in Chennai. The contribution of state governments comes by way of `deposits' to railways. Besides, the two states have also agreed to provide the land at nominal lease charges. The railways have the necessary expertise to design and execute urban transport projects. "These projects can be highly cost effective if funds are available under a different plan head for metropolitan transport projects without taken out a slice from the railway's annual plan. In such case, there is no dividend liability for the funds invested," a Rail Bhavan source said.
The first move to divest railways from the responsibility of investing in metropolitan rail systems was made way back in 1986 when the business allocation rules of the government of India was changed. The responsibility of planning and co-ordination of urban transport system including rail-based system was transferred to the ministry of urban affairs and employment.
However, technical planning continues to be with the Indian Railways.