Metro on rocky route: A Catch 22 situation for the future of urban projects

Two failed private metro operations have been taken over by the public sector, yet the private sector remains the sole engine of expansion for this mode of urban transport

Some weeks from now, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), a joint venture of the Union and Delhi governments, will be running the operations of 11.7 km metro network in Gurugram, the country’s first privately-funded metro system. The two lines of the Rapid Metro Gurgaon are currently owned by the state government-owned Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation (HMRTC), which took them over after the IL&FS group, imploding under a financial scandal, exited on September 9.

This is the second private metro that DMRC has taken over. In 2013, it took over the Delhi Airport Metro Expressline, previously operated by Anil Ambani's Reliance