Vikas Kumar

The loss incurred by DMRC during the pandemic has to be borne by both the central and state government. “

Interview with

VIKAS KUMAR

MD, DMRC

The growth story of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been deeply impacted by the pandemic as the organization struggles to bring its business back to the pre-pandemic era. In an interview with ET Infra, DMRC Managing Director Vikas Kumar talks about its dwindling ridership, shrinking revenue and other challenges being faced by the corporation.

What is the operating ratio of DMRC at present?

Yes it has and also the whole commuting culture has changed. People travel less for services now as home delivery of products and services has picked up.

It is over 100, therefore we will not be operationally surplus. Pre-Covid our operating ratio had reached 75. DMRC’s operating profit was Rs 865.79 crore in 2019-20, while it incurred an operating loss of Rs 1761.23 crore in 2020-21.

With regard to the fare hike, when is the next hike expected? The last fare revision took place in October 2017 and at that time the ridership dropped; under current circumstances can Delhi Metro afford a fare hike?

What is the current ridership of Delhi Metro and how soon will it reach the pre-pandemic levels?

Right now the ridership is around 46 lakhs per day (September) and it was around 44.6 lakh passenger journeys per day in August. This was heavily affected by the pandemic as the metro was not operational for five months in the year 2020. In the pre-covid period, from January 1, 2020 to February 28, 2020, the average daily ridership on the metro was 61 lakhs.

When will the ridership reach the pre-pandemic levels?

It has been gradually increasing so maybe by February 2023 we will be back to pre-covid levels of ridership.

Do you feel the work-from-home culture is partially responsible for the decline in ridership?

Yes, fare hike is required. But last time around when the fares were raised the ridership went down therefore once the ridership reaches the pre-pandemic levels we can think of another fare hike. Some people have gone back to twowheelers and if there is a fare hike they may not come back to the metro. Also, the loss incurred by DMRC during the pandemic has to be borne by both the central and state government. We would first want that support from both the governments and then think about fare hike.

What is the status of the monetization plan of DMRC?

We are quite aggressive and if you look at the revenue from this segment it is in better shape. The rental earnings from property business used to be Rs 505 crore in 2019-20, it came down to Rs 244 crore in 2020-21 and picked up in 2021-22 to Rs 37 crore. We are projecting it to be over Rs500 crore by the end of the year.

Is land acquisition a challenge in metro construction?

Yes, it has always been. In phase-4 right now there are certain issues and we hope to resolve them soon. We have to acquire land from railways and civil aviation and as per government norms it has to be inter-departmental rates but they want a separate rate structure. We are in discussions with them and hope to resolve the matter soon.

What is the progress of Phase 4 of Delhi Metro?

Three priority corridors have been sanctioned and are under progress – Aerocity to Tughlakabad, Janakpuri West to R K Ashram and Mukundpur (Majlis Park) to Maujpur. The average progress of Phase 4 is around 25%. Apart from this there are three more corridors under consideration –Lajpat to Saket G block, Inderlok to Indraprastha and Rithala-Bawana-Narela. This Phase 4 is quite challenging as there are many integrated road and metro flyovers in this phase.

Are there only construction challenges or any other challenges as well due to the pandemic?

Pandemic has pushed back the project, it had an impact but we are trying to adhere to the timeline. There was an impact as the progress during 2020 was lesser than planned but now the construction has picked up.

Has there been any cost overrun due to the pandemic on this Phase 4?

We are yet to evaluate but there has been some impact on construction due to delays in permission for tree cutting from the government. We are pursuing the matter with the Delhi government.

Alstom India and Bombardier are the main suppliers of rolling stock to the Delhi Metro. Are more companies expected in the space?

In phase-4 rolling stock tender, five companies have participated. We can’t share their names as the tender is yet to be finalized. It will be finalized in a month’s time.

What is DMRC doing to improve the last mile connectivity for the metro rider?

We are planning to bring electric autos in a big way. We have been given permission by the Delhi government and we have also done some pilots.

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Indian Railways launches second generation Vande Bharat Express on two new routes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two new Vande Bharat Express Trains – one on Gandhinagar Capital to Mumbai Central (Western Railway Division) route and second on New Delhi to Amb Andaura (Northern Railway Division) route – on 30th September 2022 and 13th October 2022 respectively.

The Vande Bharat Express trains (previously known as Train 18) have been introduced to upgrade maintenance technologies and methodologies and achieve improvement in productivity and performance of all Railway assets and manpower in which inter-alia would cover reliability, availability, utilization and efficiency.

These trains are equipped with world-class passenger amenities. It can achieve high speeds due to faster acceleration and deceleration and will reduce journey time by 25% to 45%. • The Vande Bharat Express has 16 air-conditioned coaches of which two are executive class coaches. The total seating capacity is 1,128 passengers. • It also has provision for Divyang-friendly facilities. • Adding up the green footprints, the train has a regenerative braking system in the Vande Bharat

Express coaches which can save up to 30% of electrical energy. • The Vande Bharat Express train has fully sealed gangways and censored interconnecting doors for a dust-free environment.

In the union budget 2022, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that 400 new-generation Vande Bharat Express Trains with better energy efficiency will be developed and manufactured during the next three years. Indian Railways is aiming to run 75 new Vande Bharat trains by August 15 next year. Therefore, the development of these trains has been expedited as the target of the Railways is that 7 to 8 trains should be ready every month.

Journey of Vande Bharat Express Trains

The manufacturing of first prototype of 'Train 18' was completed in October 2018. It was planned to replace the then-existing 30-year-old Shatabdi Express, which takes 15% longer time to complete the same journey. Since it took 18 months to be manufactured, it was renamed to 'Train 18' .

The Vande Bharat Express offers a myriad of superior and aircraft-like traveling experiences. It is “ equipped with advanced state-of-the-art safety features including an indigenously developed Train Collision Avoidance System - KAVACH. “

Some salient features of Vande Bharat Express Train

• The Vande Bharat Express train has an intelligent braking system that enables better acceleration and deceleration. • All coaches are equipped with automatic doors; GPSbased audio-visual passenger information system, onboard hotspot Wi-Fi for entertainment purposes, and very comfortable seating. The executive class also has rotating chairs. • All toilets are bio-vacuum type. The lighting is dual mode, viz. diffused for general illumination and personal for every seat. • Every coach has a pantry with facilities to serve hot meals and hot and cold beverages. During test runs, the train achieved an operational speed of 180 kmph, making it the fastest train to ever run in India.

First Vande Bharat Express Train (22435/22436) which runs between New Delhi and Varanasi (Northern Railway) was launched on 15th February 2019 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. After success of first train, the Second Vande Bharat Express Train (22439/22440) was launched between New Delhi and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra (Northern Railway) on 3rd October 2019.

The first and second train were initially developed as Version 1.0 (first generation) by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai under the leadership of Sudhanshu Mani (then General Manager - ICF). He is the main innovator of

engineless semi high speed trains in form of Train 18 (now Vande Bharat Express Train).

The Third Vande Bharat Express Train (20901/20902) was launched between Mumbai Central and Gandhinagar Capital (Western Railway) on 30th September 2022. And the fourth Vande Bharat Express Train (22448/22447) was launched between New Delhi and Amb Andaura (Northern Railway) on 13th October 2022.

The third and fourth Vande Bharat Express Trains have been developed a Version 2.0 (second generation) by the Integral Coach Factory, Chennai. These trains have some advanced features over the first generation trains.

Vande Bharat Express Trains - At A Glance

Indian Railways and ICF were also planning the development of Train 20, another semi-high speed train that was supposed to replace the Rajdhani Express. This new train was planned to have Aluminium body with sleeper coaches.

Indian Railways also had planned to order 40 train sets of Train 18 by 2022, which would include modified cabin crash guard made out of aluminium along with a lithiumion battery set.

Vande Bharat 2.0

After the government had announced 75 new sets of Vande Bharat Express to be ready by August 2023, ICF is set to build an upgraded version of these rakes and has planned

to test the two prototypes on trial runs by March 2022.

In addition to the previous facilities, the second version of this train will include upgraded amenities, seating, security and surveillance systems and the features designed for emergencies. When it comes to the safety features, the new rakes will be equipped with four emergency windows, disaster lights in all coaches in the event of light system's failure, fire survival cables inside of door circuits, availability of ventilation for three hours in case of Air Conditioner's power failure and emergency push buttons will also be increased to four per coach.

The new coaches are also set to be equipped with a centralised Coach Monitoring System for all types of electricity, climate control and other vital systems of the train. To address the seat reclining issues of the previous version, the new rakes will be equipped with a push-back arrangement for smooth reclining. An official added that the new coaches will be provided with a bacteria-free air conditioning system and higher flood protection of underframe equipment to ensure reliability during monsoons.

Train No Terminals

1st (22435/22436) New Delhi - Varanasi

Distance Division Inauguration

759 km NR 15 Feb, 2019

2nd (22439/22440) New Delhi - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra 655 km NR 3 Oct, 2019

3rd (20901/20902) Mumbai Central - Gandhinagar Capital 522 km WR 30 Sep, 2022

4th (22448/22447) New Delhi - Amb Andaura 412 km NR 13 Oct, 2022

5th (TBA) Chennai - Mysuru 498 km SR 10 Nov, 2022

Indian Railways has planned to launch the 5th Vande Bharat Express Train next month on 10th November on Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route of South Railway.

Design & Technical Features

The Vande Bharat Express's exterior appearance consists of aerodynamic design, narrowing at each end of the train which is designed to combat air resistance. It also has a driver cabin at each end, allowing for faster turnaround at terminating stations. The train has 16 passenger cars, with a seating capacity of 1,128 passengers. Two of the center compartments are first class compartments that seat 52 each, with the rest being coach compartments seating 78 each.

Alternate coaches are motorised to ensure even distribution of power and to help in quicker acceleration and deceleration. The gangways are interconnected and fully sealed to allow better mobility between coaches and to reduce noise respectively. The train also features GPISbased passenger information system, bio-vacuum toilets, and rotational seats which can be aligned in the direction of travel (only in executive class).

The train's seats, braking system, doors, and transformers are the only elements of the train to be outsourced, with plans to make them domestically on the production of the next unit. Train 18 employs a regenerative braking system.