Urban Transport Infrastructure January 2023

Rajesh Agrawal, IRSEE Former Member (RS), Railway Board, Ministry of Railways

Dr. Richa Chowdhary Professor University of Delhi, New Delhi

Keshav Kumar Rail, MRTS & Transit Expert, Gurugram

Dr. Vivek Vaidyanathan Urban Transport Scientist Steer, Bangalore

Dr. Surabhi Singh Professor GL Bajaj Institute of Management & Research

Ar. Priyanka Kumar Urban Planner Gujarat Infrastructure Development Board, Ahmedabad

Karuna Gopal Smart Cities Advisor Foundation for Futuristic Cities, Hyderabad

Dr. Valavan Amudhan Public Transport Expert Director-MTC Chennai

Sudhanshu Mani, IRSME Former GM/Integral Coach Factory, Chennai, Indian Railways

MC Chauhan Former GM/NCR & Metro Railway Kolkata, Indian Railways

Mamta Shah Managing Editor

Vinod

Shah Head - Marketing Anushka Khare Associate Editor

Naomi

Pandya Associate Editor Surya Prakash Head of Design

Sangeeta Singh Media Coordinator

Khushboo Parveen Marketing Officer

Urban Transport Infrastructure is being published bi-monthly by:

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Edited and published by Mrs Mamta Shah, Managing Editor from 101, Khudi Ram Bose Marg, Mayur Vihar Phase 1, New Delhi 110091, India

It is an undeniable fact that the transport sector in India is one of the rapid growing sectors contributing around 6 7% in the GDP and the share is expected to reach at 12% by 2026. The road transport forms a strong backbone of the transport sector in the country

Transport is one of the sectors targeted where effective public interventions are being called for to reduce CO2 emissions and where adaptation measures are needed to reduce the vulnerability to climatic changes Currently, the CO2 emissions in the transport sector are about 30% in the case of developed countries and about 23% in the case of the total man-made CO2 emissions worldwide There is widespread agreement to reduce CO2 emissions from transport by a minimum of 50% at the latest by 2050

India aims to reach net zero by 2070 India's Long Term Low Emissions Development Strategy (LTS), submitted to the UNFCCC in November 2022, details India's vision and plan of action for achieving its target to become a net zero emitter by 2070. The European Union has decided to ban the sale of petrol-diesel operated Cars from 2035.

In this edition, we have covered in-depth analysis on road safety and why transit-oriented development is crucial to India’s public transportation? We have also covered interview of leading Industry leaders/policy makers such as Mohamed Mezghani, Secretary General, UITP and Abhijeet Sinha, National Program Director, Ease of Doing Business and Project Director, National Highway for EV (NHEV).

Kindly provide your feedback on the quality of contents of our publications, so that we can make more improvement in future editions.

I wish all our readers a very happy New Year 2023.

Stay Safe and Stay Happy!

Mamta Shah Managing Editor

editor@urbantransportnews.com

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2022

• 100 percent civil contracts awarded for MumbaiAhmedabad Bullet Train in Gujarat

• Milan approves €250 million Cambio "SuperCycle" Corridors Project

• Telangana announced two RRTS corridors to link Hyderabad with Vijayawada and Warangal.

• Japan unveils first semi high-speed hydrogenpowered train 'Hybari‘

• First construction tender launched for PuneNashik Semi High Speed Rail Project

• YEIDA approves DPR of ₹810-crore Noida Pod Taxi project.

January 2022

• Cochin Shipyard handovers India's first Water Metro Ferry to Kochi Metro Rail Ltd

• Manoj Joshi takes charge of Secretary in Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs.

• Gadkari inaugurates and lays foundation stone for National Highways worth ₹26,778 crore

• Tamil Nadu Chief Minister announces 15.3km new Airport Metro line in Chennai.

• Moscow launches test trial run of the first Russian-made articulated electric bus.

• Kerala Govt. unveils DPR of ₹63,941 crore SilverLine Semi High Speed Rail Project

• Tata group takes over management and control of Air India.

March 2022

• Indian Railways completed trial tests of indigenous rail safety ‘Kavach’ technology

• Maha Metro launched operations on 12-km routes of Pune Metro Rail Project.

• Keolis gets three years extension of the contract to maintain Hyderabad Metro

• Karnataka CM announces 37-km new metro corridor to connect Hebbal to Sarjapur

• Maharashtra allocates ₹25,000 crore for major transport infrastructure projects.

• China completes test of new generation of commercial maglev train

• Indian Railways unveils Country's 1st Gati Shakti Multi-Modal Cargo Terminal

• Gadkari launches pilot project for Hydrogen based advanced Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle.

February 2022

• Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced 400 new Vande Bharat Trains.

• Telangana Govt drops ₹2,400 crore Elevated Bus Rapid Transit System Project

• Tamil Nadu unveils plan for mass rapid transit systems for Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli & Salem

• Saudi Arabia opens US$266.6m investment opportunity in railway sector.

• Konkan Railway achieves 100% electrification target in their network

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2022

• Alstom delivers India’s first semi high-speed regional train for Delhi-Meerut RRTS project

• Indian Railways floats tender for procurement of 800 super power electric locomotives

• Indian Railways approves merger of Chennai MRTS with Metro Rail.

• Indian Railways and IIT Madras sign MoU to develop Hyperloop transportation system in India

• Tata Motors forms a subsidiary for nextgeneration urban mass mobility business

April 2022

• Vikas Kumar takes charge of new Managing Director of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation

• MMRDA launches passenger services on 20-km Phase 1 of Mumbai Metro Line 2A & 7.

• Russia's oldest Moscow tram celebrates its 123rd anniversary.

• Karnataka unveils Metro Neo plan to connect Electronic City with Namma Metro

• L&T Technology Services bags US$100m electric air mobility deal from Jaunt.

• Indian Railways floats mega tender for procurement of 1200 electric locomotives

• Maharashtra launches National Common Mobility Card in largest bus network BEST

June 2022

• Govt of India unveils mega procurement plan for 50,000 electric buses.

• MoRTH creates Guinness World Record in laying 75km Highway in 105 hours 33 minutes

• Karnataka approves 20-km new metro line to connect Bengaluru with Hosur in Tamil Nadu

• Olivier Loison appointed as new Managing Director for Alstom India.

• Indian Railways launches 'StartUps for Railways' Innovation Policy for young Innovators

• Indian Railways launches first private train on Coimbatore - Sainagar Route

• PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone of Bengaluru Suburban Rail Project.

• Tata Projects started construction work for Noida International Airport at Jewar

July 2022

May 2022

• Indian Railways floats global tender to procure 200 sleeper version of Vande Bharat Trains.

• IGI Airport becomes first Indian Airport to run entirely on hydro and solar power.

• Rajendra Prasad takes charge as MD of National High Speed Rail Corporation

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2022

• Parameswaran

• UK unveils over £1 billion investment plan to bring railway systems into 21st century

• Ashwini Bhide takes charge as Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation.

• Maharashtra cabinet approves MumbaiAhmedabad High Speed Bullet Train project.

• European Union unveils plan to replace airlines with High Speed Trains

• UPMRC Ex-MD Kumar Keshav takes charge as CEO of Deutsche Bahn India.

• Indian Railways floats tender for 200 aluminumbody next-generation Vande Bharat Trains

• Govt of India to provide ₹48,000cr financial support for development of smart cities

• CRRC tie-ups with Titagarh Wagons to supply 216 coaches for Bangalore Metro Phase 2

• Maersk completes first India-Bangladesh crossborder logistics transport via Waterways

• Talgo and Bharat Forge join hands to set up High Speed Train plant in India.

• Tata Motors bags largest order to supply 1500 electric buses to Delhi Transport Corporation

• IIT Mandi launches M Tech programme in Electric Transportation

• Urban Infra Group celebrate its 5th Anniversary and sets five year goals.

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August 2022

• PM Modi lays foundation stone for the first green hydrogen mobility project of India

• Govt of India sets a target of creating 220 new operational airports by 2025

• Maharashtra cabinet approves ₹10,269 crore overrun cost of Mumbai Metro Line 3.

• Karnataka Govt launches 75 next-generation electric buses in Bengaluru

• GDA unveils plan to launch three new Metro Neo Corridors in Ghaziabad

• Indian Railways unveils plan to develop 503 km Bengaluru-Hyderabad Semi High Speed Rail.

• SAIL started new Head Hardened Rail production unit for HSR/Metro Rail in Bhilai Steel Plant.

• India’s first electric double-decker bus launched in Mumbai

• India’s first indigenously developed Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus launched in Pune.

• Centre approves development of 35 new multimodal logistics parks in India

Iyer takes charge of new CEO of NITI Aayog.

UITP reappoints Mohamed Mezghani as Secretary General for the next five years

Vinayak Pai appointed as Managing Director of TATA Projects Ltd.

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2022

• Indian Railways conducts test run of 3 5-km long freight train Super Vasuki.

• World’s first hydrogen train Coradia iLint started passenger service in Germany

• India's first neutral shared Radio Access Network solution launched in Indian Railways

• TransPod Unveils World's First Hybrid Vehicle for Ultra-High-Speed Transportation.

September 2022

• Delhi Government unveils mega procurement plan for 8,000 electric buses by 2025.

• Delhi launches Station Access and Mobility Program to improve multimodal integration

• Spain launches free train travel scheme to encourage use of passenger rail transport

• Railway ministry unveils ₹4,700 crore New Delhi Station Redevelopment Plan.

• Govt of India approves Railway Land Lease Policy amendment for better development

• NHEV flags off EV Trial Run on Delhi-Jaipur Electric Highway

• Haryana unveils plan to launch pod taxi system to connect two airports between Chandigarh and Mohali

• Karnataka unveils plan to convert 35,000 Buses into Electric by 2030.

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi launches National Logistics Policy

• Centre gives in-principal approval for ₹1,546 crore urban ropeway project in Shimla.

• Indian Railways installs RTIS devices for realtime tracking of passenger & freight trains.

• Centre approves redevelopment of New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai Railway Stations

• Third rake of Vande Bharat Express launched on Mumbai-Gandhinagar Railway Route.

October 2022

• Urban Infra Group announces winners of 2nd Urban Infra Business Leadership Awards 2022

• IDFC and ICICI Bank launch Transportation and Logistics Fund for Mobility sector

• China launches world's fastest train that runs at the speed of 600 km per hour.

• Fourth Vande Bharat Express Train launched on Una - New Delhi Railway Route

• Hindalco launches India’s first all-aluminium freight rail rakes

• 5th Vande Bharat Express Train to be launched on Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru Railway route.

• Wisk Aero Unveils World’s First Self-Flying, AllElectric Air Taxi in Dubai

HIGHLIGHTS OF 2022

• Uber launches electric cab services in Delhi-NCR as pilot project.

• NCRTC unveils plan to procure special coaches to facilitate freight movement on RRTS Corridors

• REC signs MoU with MMRDA to fund ₹30,483 crores for nine Mumbai Metro corridors

• Home Minister Amit Shah lays foundation stone of ₹5,618-crore Haryana Orbital Rail Corridor.

• European Union decided to ban sale of diesel and petrol cars from 2035

December 2022

• Transport for London appointed to prepare Comprehensive Mobility Plan for Chennai

• Rail Delivery Group selects TCS to design UK Government’s Rail Data Marketplace.

• Nagpur Metro's Double Decker Viaduct Sets A Guinness World Records

• Siemens wins ₹13,177 crore contract for supply of 1200 E-Locomotives to Indian Railways

• ADB approves US$250 million loan to strengthen Logistics Sector in India.

• Hitachi to complete acquisition of Thales's Ground Transportation Business by 2023

• 6th Vande Bharat Express launched on 412 km Bilaspur-Nagpur Route of Indian Railways.

• Bombay High Courts permits NHSRCL to cut 22,000 trees to built bullet train corridor in Maharashtra

• 6th Vande Bharat Express launched on 412 km Bilaspur-Nagpur Route of Indian Railways

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurates ₹2,870 crore New Goa International Airport

November 2022

• MoHUA and Kochi Metro host 15th Urban Mobility India Conference & Expo 2022 in Kochi

• Siemens set up bogies production facility for Railways, Trams and Metro in Aurangabad.

• India launches Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2 and Citizen Perception Survey 2022

• Urban Infra Group hosts 2nd Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards 2022 in New Delhi

• 5th Vande Bharat Express and 2nd Bharat Gaurav Train launched in South India.

• Reliance bags ₹1,424cr contract to develop India's first Multi Modal Logistics Park in Chennai

• Railway completes route survey of 1660km DelhiHowrah Bullet Train Corridor.

• Karnataka approves transit oriented development policy for Bengaluru

• GDA approves revised plans for TOD zones alongside RRTS and MRTS corridors

• Railway unveils plan to launch 100 New Vande Bharat Trains with Tilting Technology by 2026.

• Delhi, Mumbai ranked lowest among 60 global cities in terms of urban mobility

• Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw appointed as first Chancellor of Gati Shakti University.

• Prof Dr Manoj Choudhary appointed as first Vice Chancellor of Gati Shakti University

• RITES, KOEL sign MoU to explore business avenues in Urban Transport sector

• Huawei Launches All-Optical Urban Rail Transportation Network Solutions

• Indian Railways unveils plan to launch hydrogen powered Vande Bharat Trains for common people.

• Tata Motors bags largest order to supply, operate and maintain 1500 e-buses in Delhi

• VS Engg secures order worth ₹807 crore to build India's first Urban Ropeway in Varanasi

• Siemens awarded US$3 2 billion order to supply 1,200 electric locomotives to India.

• Tata Steel, TuTr Hyperloop sign agreement to develop Hyperloop Transportation Technology

• India's 7th Vande Bharat Express launched on Howrah-New Jalpaiguri Railway Route.

• China launches first Semi High Speed Hydrogen Powered Passenger Train.

• Railway Ministry appointed Anil Kumar Lahoti as new Chairman & CEO of Railway Board

Electric Bus Performance Evaluation: Lessons from Six Indian Cities

UITP India

ndia is witnessing an accelerated uptake of electric buses (e-buses) as about 2, 000 units have been deployed over the past three years while an additional fleet of about 6,500 buses are contracted and expected to be operational before the end of 2023 Building on this momentum, Government of India (GoI) has announced the National Electric Bus Program (NEBP) to procure an additional 50,000 electric buses in the years to come. Large scale procurements combined with various fiscal and non-fiscal incentives at the National, State and City levels are all set to accelerate e-bus adoption further Indeed, as more electric buses are being deployed, it is important to evaluate the performance of already deployed e-buses to improve their operational performance and build knowledge base to inform future procurement choices

The introduction and scale up of electric buses is ushering in a new era of bus service provision in India. Firstly, the ebus technology is still evolving. Secondly with the operations, planning, and maintenance practices being significantly different compared to Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) buses as well as between different models of e-bus provided by different Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) Cities are yet to make informed choices and identify the best-fit e-bus technologies available on the market for their operating conditions. Secondly, ebuses are predominantly introduced through Gross Cost Contract (GCC) mode of procurement wherein the

technology risk and investment for the buses is covered by the operator, while the contracting authority takes responsibility for service planning and delivery and the revenue risk Efficient and transparent monitoring of the performance is critical to the success of the GCC model

Approach for Data Collection in view of Performance Evaluation of E-buses

UITP India has previously developed a “Framework for Performance Evaluation of Electric Buses in India (2020)2 ” which outlines the various key metrics to be captured, sources of data for these metrics as well as the agency responsible for the data The framework covers a wide range of data points to understand electric bus performance covering areas like the bus and charger specifications, operational performance, charging needs and energy efficiency performance, depot, staff and financial performance

Building on this framework, the current study aimed to apply the framework for operational e-buses in cities across India to support cities in their performance evaluation efforts as well as improving the framework further to meet local needs. Towards this, UITP engaged with about eight cities across India to conduct stakeholder outreach activities with the State and Municipal Transport Undertakings (STUs and MTUs) operating electric buses, the private service providers in charge of the operations and

maintenance of these buses as well as the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) supplying these buses. The data template for performance evaluation developed by UITP mentioned above was shared with six cities for them to fill in the necessary information

Overall, the response to the performance evaluation efforts was limited, primarily because detailed performance data management practices do not exist in many cities and even where they exist, both cities and their service providers were apprehensive about sharing performance data in public domain. The data is received for three to six months of operations from six cities: Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Pune, Surat and Lucknow However, the level of detail in the data received and the time periods for which the data was provided varied significantly between cities and even between different months within the same city At the same time, the period of data collection for the project coincided with various waves of Covid-19 pandemic, during which public transport usage declined and many cities operated limited services. As a result, one month in which data was most comprehensive and the maximum number of services were operational is selected and summarised for each of the cities

The time period for which data is shared, the duration of operations covered and the metrics against which data is provided varied significantly between cities. Therefore, the data collected is presented anonymously in this paper with the objective of establishing the variance in performance of e-bus across different OEMs and operating conditions E-buses Performance Data

The six cities for which data is provided are from different parts of the country with varying climate and operating conditions The e-buses in these cities were deployed between February 2019 and December 2021, making them among the first generation of e-buses deployed in India Even though Covid-19 pandemic had an impact on the project delivery and scale of operation, the data presented below is generic for it to have implications beyond the pandemic. The performance data collected is summarised in the following two sections on technology specifications and operational performance The six cities have been labelled as City A, City B and so on while the OEMs providing buses in these cities are labelled as OEM1, OEM2 and so on to maintain anonymity as per the data agreements signed with these cities The operational performance data was not available for one of the six cities and hence is not reported below.

Technology Specifications

Table 1 provides an overview of the e-bus deployment timeline in the case of cities, the month for which data is presented, number of buses for which data is presented as well as the key bus and charger technology specifications for the six cities The e-buses in these cities are provided by three Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), through a Gross Cost Contract (GCC) to provide e-bus services against a pre-determined per-km fees, wherein they’re the lead consortium member All the cities opted for 9m long midi buses, while one of them also had 12m long standard buses as observed in the initial rounds of procurement in Indian cities

• Use case of Buses in Cities

Most cities are opting for Air-Conditioned (AC) buses with the advent of e-buses, to position e-buses as a new and better-quality service product as well as because the additional energy cost due to air-conditioning is marginal In case of diesel and CNG buses, the fuel efficiency of AC buses is typically about 40% lower than their Non-AC variants which added significantly to the overall operating cost given the high energy cost of diesel compared to electricity. Cities opted for standard floor height of 900 mm in case of 9m buses and 400 mm floor height in case of the one 12m bus The operating conditions of e-bus in these cities varied significantly While majority of the cities using e-buses operate in regular mixed-traffic urban operating conditions some operated in Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) systems with exclusive bus lanes along the streets, while the rest use e-buses as feeder services to metro rail systems

A combination of these use cases was also observed in some cities. The operating use case has an implication on several variables impacting the performance of e-buses including their daily-km operated, speed profile, road conditions, passenger load and revenue generation

• Battery size and type

The battery size on-board the buses varied between 134 kWh to 180 kWh in case of 9m buses and 320 kWh in case of the 12m buses in one city. Lithium-Iron Phosphate (LFP) and Nickel Manganese and Cobalt (NMC) batteries were the preferred battery chemistries by OEMs While each battery chemistry has its own advantages and disadvantages, e-bus OEMs have their preferred battery chemistry which they would continue to pursue in the future

• Charging infrastructure

One of the cities had the e-bus OEM providing charging infrastructure as well However, it was among the first ebus deployments in India where majority of the e-bus and supporting infrastructure were imported With increasing Government mandate to ‘Make in India’ under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, recent e-bus deployments are witnessing charging infrastructure for the buses being provided by a third-party OEM specialising in Indian made chargers and other equipment, under a contract by the e-bus OEM

improve uptime of buses As a result, Direct Current (DC) charging with charger capacities of 180-240 kW are being installed in recent deployments Further, DC chargers with two charging guns are being installed, which allow for the full charging capacity to be utilised when connecting a single gun and the capacity to be split into two when both the guns are used to charge. Cities typically use single gun for fast charging during breaks within the day and split the capacity while charging overnight

• Buses per charger

The number of buses served per charger is a useful indicator to measure the efficiency of the charging system installed. Serving more buses per charger leads to fewer chargers required to be installed, thereby reducing the space needed for charging infrastructure and associated bus circulation within the depot, which is a significant constraint in many urban areas The buses served per charger for the case cities varied between 2 to 5 5 Cities with lower buses per charger either have lower capacity chargers (City A and City B) or few buses in a given depot In case of City C, the lower buses per charger is because only a few of the total buses contracted were delivered and the chargers were built even for the remaining buses. In addition to the advantage of higher capacity chargers, this metric also demonstrates the advantage of concentrating ebus deployments in larger sized depots, thereby reducing charging infrastructure needs

Guobiao standards (GB/T) and Combined Charging System (CCS) 2.0 were the two types of charging standards adopted by the six cities evaluated. The type of charger used and its capacity varied between cities, even with the same OEM providing e-buses (Eg OEM 2 using GB/T chargers in City C and CCS 2 0 chargers in City D) More recent procurements like the aggregated procurement of 5,450 buses conducted by the Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) have mandated the adoption of CCS 2 0 chargers, indicating that the market is moving towards CCS 2.0 as the default charging standard thereby enabling interoperability of chargers between buses from different OEMs.

The capacity and type of the chargers play a key role in the time needed to charge the buses The initial deployments used smaller chargers like the 80 kW Alternating Current (AC)-Type 2 chargers used by OEM 1 which required up to 4 hours to charge the buses overnight However, both cities and operators acknowledge the need for faster charging to

• Power Connectivity to the Depot

The number of chargers per depot and the capacity of power connectivity to the depot are a function of the lower power supply dynamics, charging schedule of buses and the number of simultaneously charged buses Table 1 provides the data available for the six cities

NO. INDICATORS CITY A CITY B CITY C CITY D CITY E CITY F 1 Bus OEM OEM 1 OEM 2 OEM 2 OEM 2 OEM 1 OEM 3 2 Induction month and Year August, 2021 Febuary, 2019 August, 2021 November, 2021 February, 2021 December, 2021 3 Month and Year(data analysed) January, 2022 January, 2020 January, 2022 November, 2021 January, 2022 May, 2022 4 Type of Operation Urban BRT+ Urban Metro feeder Urban BRT Metro feeder+Urban 5 Number of buses evaluated 40 25 (9m)/ 125(12m) 24 60 150 90 6 Bus length 9cm 9m/12m 9m 9cm 9m 9m 7 Air-conditioning Non AC-10; AC-30 AC AC AC AC Non-AC 8 Floor Height 900 mm 900mm (9m)/400 mm (12m) 900 mm 900 mm 900 mm 900 mm 9 Length/Width/Heigh t 8900/2465/ 3300 mm 8900/2465/3300 mm (9m) 12000/2520/3340 (12 m)

8540/2450/ 3050 mm 8540/2450/ 3100 mm 8950/2360/ 3800 mm 9300/2477/ 3530 mm 10 Seating capacity 31+D 31+D (9m)/35+WC + D (12m)

21+D+2F/W 21+D+2F/W 24+WC+D 33+D 11 Battery Size 180 kWh 180 kWh/ 320 kWh 150 kWh 150kWh 180 kWh 134 kWh 12 Battery type LFP LFP NMC NMC LFP NMC 13 Charger socket type GB/T GB/T GB/T CCS2 GB/T CCS2 14 Charger capacity (KW) and type 80 Kw (ACtype 2) 80 kW (AC-type 2), 150 kW(AC-type 2) 240 kW DC(Double gun)

180 kW DC 80 KW (ACType 2), 150 KW(DC)

240 kW DC (Double gun) 15 Number & type of chargers 20 AC chargers 70 AC and 3 DC chargers 11 DC chargers 11 DC chargers 13 AC & 2 DC chargers 10 DC chargers 16 Number of depots 1 2 2 1 2 3 17 Buses per charger 2 2.1 2.2 5.5 5 NA 18 KW capacity of depot charging infrastructure

2000KW 3895 kW 2500 kW 1350 kW 3445 kW 900 kW 19 KV of power to the depot 11kV 4.1 kVA 50 11kV 11 kV 11 kV

Table 1: Bus and charging technology specifications of e-buses deployed in six Indian cities

Operational Performance and Energy Consumption

All the cities adopted GCC as their business model, wherein the bus operator is paid by the contracting authority based on Service Level Agreements (SLAs) such as km of service performed, punctuality, reliability etc Energy consumption performance of e-buses is among the key Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between the authority and bus operator while in some cases, the energy cost is borne by the contracting authority Therefore, monitoring operational and energy consumption performance of e-buses is crucial to their contract management. The operational performance and energy consumption of e-buses in five of the 6 case cities for which

which access to data is available for a period of at least one month is summarised in Table 2 The per-km fees to be paid by the city varied between INR 40 35 per-km to INR 64 per-km across the cities due to a combination of factors such as the assured-km of payment to the operator, operational and contractual risks perceived by the service providers and others as discussed in the report ‘Electric Bus Procurement Under Fame-II (UITP, 2020) Nevertheless, the GCC fees per-km, unit cost of electricity (INR per kWh) and whether the GCC quote includes electricity cost is included here for ready reference The electricity costs also vary between INR 4 93 per kWh to INR 6 57 per kWh between cities leading to significant variance in operating costs per km.

The number of operational days per month along with the scheduled-km, operated-km and dead-km (non-revenue-km from depot to trip start point) per bus are summarised below to demonstrate the operational performance of ebuses. While 3 out of 5 cities reported 30-31 days of operations per bus per month, the remaining days when the buses were unavailable can be due to a combination of vehicle technology issues as well as Covid-19 related nonoperation of buses Overall, it is observed that e-bus demonstrate more than 98% fleet availability, which is much higher compared to diesel or CNG buses which typically face difficulty in ensuring availability beyond 95% due to their periodic maintenance needs.

Scheduled and operational-km per bus: The operated-km by buses across cities and OEMs with varying operating conditions, range availabilities and charging technologies is observed to be 194-213 km per bus per day The scheduledkm of operation in these cities varied between 194-272 km While in some cases, operated-km exceeded scheduled-km, they were lower than scheduled km in other cases

Quantitative data on the reasons for cancelled-km is not available in significant detail, but consultation with the operators and authorities indicated that the cancellation was primarily due to operational issues like crew unavailability or traffic conditions rather than due to technological reasons such as bus breakdowns or range limitations The need for improved vehicle and crew scheduling practices incorporating various operational and technological constraints for efficient e-bus operations was highlighted by both cities and operators.

Dead- km indicate the number of km the bus operated without generating revenue, typically to reach the route origin or destination points from their depots or parking facilities While is a function of local operating conditions The observation that it can vary between 1 24 to 6 km between cities indicates the need for efficient planning to reduce dead-km where possible and incorporate them while planning for the payment-km to be included in the GCC contract, the energy needs for these km, charging time available for buses and their locations

Service hours, time spent at depot and no of charging events per day: Service hours are a function of the local bus services requirements and are crucial in determining the range and type of charging infrastructure to be specified while procuring e-buses. The actual performance of up to 18 hours of service-hours indicates e-bus technology readiness to meet local requirements. City D’s scheduling of 11 service hours in a day and only 1 charging event combined with their scheduled-km of 272 km indicates inefficient scheduling By planning for additional charging events, the city is likely to increase its service hours and improve its operated-kms

Other bus route characteristics like no. of routes, average

route length, buses per route, stops per route, trips per route and average speed are also presented to provide a comparision of the current practices across cities Energy consumption of e-buses varied between 0 8 kWh per km to 1 2 kWh per km covering 9m and 12m AC and Non-AC buses. These were derived using data on the total power consumed data available at the depot level along with data on the fleet availability and daily utilisation Because of this, data on further split of AC Vs Non-AC bus efficiency in City A and 9m Vs 12m bus efficiency in City B were not available The comparision of energy efficiency of City C with metro feeder operations compared to City E with BRT operations makes for an interesting case While metro feeder services involve regular stop-start operations during which the AC continues to consume energy, BRT operations are typically more streamlined. However, City E has 50% higher energy consumption per km compared to City C This could be due to a combination of factors such as the weight of the vehicle (due to the battery size, battery chemistry and passenger loading), the speed profile of bus operations as well as the ambient temperature at which the buses are operating

In addition to the energy consumption per km, the electricity tariffs of different cities also provide a few interesting insights The tariffs vary by up to 20% between different cities based on the prevailing state policies towards electric buses and their overall tariff structure Some of the cities included the cost of electricity within the operator’s responsibilities while the rest have absorbed it under the authority’s responsibilities. Including electricity costs under the operator’s responsibility will increase their cashflow needs but will also encourage energy efficient practices Therefore, the cost of electricity and the responsibility of payment need to be adequately accounted at the time of procurement and while comparing the GCC prices between cities

No. INDICATORS

CITY A CITY B CITY C CITY D CITY E

1 Business model GCC GCC GCC GCC GCC

2

GCC rate (INR per km) AC-55 Non-AC-51 9m- 40.35 12-58.50 64 62.5 55.26

3 Electricity tariff (INR per kWh) 4.93 5.52 5.3 6.57 5.9

4 Electricity cost included in GCC rate? Yes No Yes No No

5

Average no. of Oprational days per bus per month

26 30 30 28 31

6 Scheduled km per bus per day 200 225 200 272 194.2

7 Operated km per bus per day 210 205 (9m)/ 213(12m) 200 198 194

8 Dead km per bus per day 4 1.24 2 NA 6

9 Service hours per bus per day 18 16 16 11 14

10 Time at depot per bus per day (in hrs) 6 8 8 13 10

11 No. of charging events per day 2 2 2 1 2 12 Number of routes 3 6 3 5 3 13 Average route length (in km) 35 28.8 10 40.5 24 14 Buses per route 6 25 3 10 15 15 Stops per route 15 NA 18 24 32 16 Daily trips per bus 5 4 11 4 10

17 Average speed (in kmph) 11.7 13.1 12.5 18 13.9

18 Energy consumption (kWh/ km) 0.95 (Average of AC and Non-AC 1.1 (Average of 5012m& 10.9m buses) 0.8 0.8 1.2

Table 2: Operations and energy consumption performance of e-buses for 5 of the 6 cities

Conclusions and Lessons Learned

E-buses are gaining rapid momentum in India as Government of India (GoI) announced its plans for deployment of 50,000 e-buses under the National Electric Bus Program (NEBP) along with ambitious public transport electrification targets set by many States and Cities Performance evaluation and efficiency improvement in procurement and operations is a low-cost and high returns strategy to reduce the cost of e-bus uptake and enhance service delivery. This paper presented the key specifications of e-buses deployed in six Indian cities and performance metrics in five of them, as an input to developing a more comprehensive country-wide approach towards performance evaluation

The comparative analysis of vehicle specifications, charger specifications and power infrastructure requirements demonstrates several alternative combinations in which cities can deploy e-buses. The operational and energy consumption performance analysis indicates significant variance in performance based on the city’s bus and charger technology specifications as well as its operating conditions Similarly, the electricity tariffs and the responsibility for their payment results in significant difference in the overall cost implications for the operator and the authority between different cities Therefore, careful planning prior to procurement is crucial in

identifying the vehicle, charger and power infrastructure specifications which are most appropriate for a given context. At the same time, efficient service planning and scheduling practices post deployment offer significant efficiency improvement potential

Even though the performance evaluation exercise provided valuable insights into the current functioning of e-buses in India, significant gaps in the current data and performance management practices of both authorities and operators are observed The following are the key findings from the current study and our recommendations for improved performance evaluation practices in the future:

• Increased focus on performance evaluation

The data maintained on e-bus performance is predominantly limited to the total-km operated in a day by each bus and the total electricity consumed at the depot level. Many key metrics such as the energy efficiency of each bus and route, time needed for overnight and opportunity charging, state of charge at the beginning and end of each charging event, energy losses during charging, and causes of cancellation of services are not maintained in most cases As highlighted at various points throughout the paper, detailed performance management plays a crucial role in enhancing efficiency of operational systems as well as informing procurement specifications in the future It is

recommended that National level agencies such as the Association of State Road Transport Undertakings (ASRTU) takes up advocacy and capacity building activities towards improved performance evaluation.

Standardisation of performance evaluation practices

Performance evaluation approach for diesel and CNG buses in India has been standardised over several decades through the annual reports of the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) and the Transport Research Wing (TRW) of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH). As explained in this paper as well as the ‘Framework for e-bus performance evaluation (UITP, 2020)’2 e-buses need a few additional technology specific indicators Further, with increasing number of stakeholders in bus operations such as GCC operators, OEMs, charging service providers, grid- and energy providers, agency specific benchmarks need to be evolved for efficient performance management The lack of such standardisation in performance management is leading to different cities adopting different metrics of evaluation and many cities not collecting several key metrics. As a result, it is difficult to compare performance of e-buses across cities Hence, it is recommended that CIRT/MoRTH to publish a standardised approach for e-bus performance management and encourage bus agencies across India to adopt it If asked for, UITP can play a role in that through it’s global network and access to international benchmark standards

Trust building and partnership approach for efficient performance

In many of the case cities, significant scope for improvement in the trust between contracting authorities and operators is observed. During the various waves of Covid-19 during which period this study was conducted, services faced significant disruptions which led to ‘Force Majeure’ conditions of contract where the operator would not receive their assured payment Further, lack of timely payments to the operators in some cities has also led to some erosion of trust between the parties Timely payments, improvements in transparency in contract management, along with a more inclusive approach in various activities such as designing routes and service schedules can build trust between various actors in the system This would further enhance the partnership between authorities and operators towards delivering efficient e-bus services

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Automation and transparency in contract management

Key contract management activities such as estimating km of service for payment and adherence to SLAs is being predominantly taken up through manual methods. Automated contract management using available Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) systems, onboard devices and charger data has not been adopted by any Indian city, despite the availability of the necessary hardware tools Cities would need to invest in developing the backend systems to use the hardware to manage contracts automatically, thereby improving transparency in the process

Disclaimer: This is an official Action Point of UITP, the International Association of Public Transport. UITP has more than 1,900 member companies in 100 countries throughout the world and represents the interests of key players in this sector Its membership includes transport authorities, operators, both private and public, in all modes of collective passenger transport, and the industry UITP addresses the economic, technical, organisation and management aspects of passenger transport, as well as the development of policy for mobility and public transport worldwide

This Action Points document was prepared by UITP India.

Mohamed Mezghani is Secretary General of UITP (Union Internationale des Transports Publics). UITP is the International Association of Public Transport and a passionate champion of sustainable urban mobility.

Mohamed was reappointed as UITP Secretary General in May this year for a new five-year term. Before his position as Secretary General, Mohamed served in various positions at UITP including as Senior Manager; Department Director; Head of Regional Office for Middle East and North Africa; Projects Manager; and Deputy Secretary General. These various positions built his experience and gave him an understanding of the inner workings of UITP

In a recent interaction with Urban Transport News, Mohamed talked on UITP Global Public Transport Summit which is scheduled to be hosted in June 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.

Interview with MOHAMED MEZGHANI

Mohamed, the UITP Global Public Transport Summit is heading to Barcelona next year (4-7 June) for the 2023 edition. What can you tell us about the planning and organising at this stage?

It’s an exciting time at UITP, that’s for sure! When we’re in the planning stage of the UITP Global Summit, there’s an extra amount of energy around. It’s a huge undertaking to bring an event of this size and prestige to the stage. There won’t be a member of the UITP team who won’t make a contribution to the Summit, and our dedicated team are led by a group made up of colleagues from each department to best coordinate our efforts and planning There’s a lot of ideas flowing, and solid plans being made, and I am more than confident that we are on schedule to bring you an edition to remember We are of course also working closely with the three local partners, who are wonderful partners for UITP, and their enthusiasm for welcoming the sector to Barcelona is evident. The road to Barcelona is set, and I’m excited and confident that we’re well on track.

What can you share with us about the programme and exhibition at this stage? Do you have any news to share on the topics?

Our programme is coming together at an impressive speed You know it takes a lot of focus and consideration to put together a Congress programme for a global Summit. UITP is focused on all modes and all topics across public transport, and when hosting an event that brings the entire sector together, we need to make sure that we’re covering the whole gambit of the conversations taking place As the Summit has a truly global dimension to it, it attracts name and faces from across the globe eager to participate UITP brings together all sector stakeholders, and that is on full display at each Summit It may sound like a cliche to say there’s something for everyone, but there truly is a topic, a session, a direction for every interest. Right now, we have developed a focus built around two pillars - Cities and People And from that, we are defining the tracks underneath those pillars that will present individual focus and topics We know that public transport defines our cities, and we also know that is should always be for the people who work in it, and who use it

By determining a direction from those two pillars we are really going to have a programme that is relevant, is informative, and crucially, will help move the needle on what the sector should be talking about going forward There is a lot of expectation around the conversations that will take place during the Summit, as people are looking for answers to their concerns; ready to share priorities with one another, and keen to observe the latest developments That means there is a challenge to create a programme fit for the current climate, and one that covers both public transport fundamentals, but also current trends and issues such as the energy crisis, the impact of inflation, staff shortages, and more For our exhibition, we are also well on track to fill more halls, and offer more space then ever before The exhibition is a phenomenal showcase of recognisable names and faces from across the sector, all around the world You can see modes on display, you can new apps being presented And all of it led by those who have brought it all to the Summit It really is something to see

The 2023 edition theme is set as “Bright Light of the City”. Can you expand for our readers the thinking behind that approach?

Since the Global Summits had a theme assigned to them, we’ve always worked to make it a relevant and interesting statement on where the sector is right now In the last few years, we’ve moved that idea closer to creating a theme that is well connected to our host city. The city that has the honour to host the largest gathering of its kind in urban mobility plays a crucial role in the Summit Not only is the Summit a fantastic economical opportunity for the host city, it is also of great cultural and societal benefit to the local area So when we are fortunate to visit another great city, we feel that we should connect the sector and the city to our theme We saw this to incredible success with the 2019 edition in Stockholm and how “The Art of Public Transport”, and our visual campaign, saw our delegates

really showcase the beauty of their metro stations and the surroundings in and around the city With the theme set for the next edition in Barcelona, we will ask the sector to show us some new enthusiasm for 2023 with “Bright Light of the City” . The thinking behind this edition’s theme is rooted in both what public transport offers, and the city of Barcelona itself Public transport is a guide It navigates a way around a city For workers, visitors, for everyone When that takes place in a city like Barcelona, renowned for their incredible artistry, historical landmarks and stunning architecture, it is easy to find beauty in your surroundings And with a well-connected public transport system, across all modes, movement is easy and public transport should always be the bright light of any city. I’m excited to discover new parts of the city myself when we arrive there next June!

With the next Summit heading to Barcelona - a city renowned not only for its impressive public transport, but for their accessible living - are you excited to see the world of urban mobility gather there in June?

This leads us perfectly from the conversation on our theme to our host city! We’re very fortunate at UITP to receive passionate and incredibly detailed bids from many international cities hoping to become our next Summit host I have, and would love to continue, visiting all of them myself With Barcelona was selected for 2023, we’ll be arriving in a city that has a very impressive public transport system The ease of access offered to people as they move around their surroundings is incredible, and the city has impressive plans to develop on that in the years ahead. For the next edition, we also have our three local partners - FGC, TMB and Renfe - representing the region (Catalonia), the city (Barcelona) and the state (Spain) We were fortunate to co-host a local launch with all three in the city, and to see not only their own passion for the Summit, but the local, regional and national players they brought together who shared their excitement Public transport is full of passionate people with an energetic approach to the future, and to see a strong level of engagement and interest from the local partners, and those in Barcelona and beyond, gives us strong encouragement for next year

Incredibly, this is the first UITP Global Summit since the 2019 edition in Stockholm. A great deal has changed since that gathering, has this impacted the direction of the Barcelona edition?

Public transport is certainly by no means alone as a sector impacted by the global pandemic It was, unfortunately, badly impacted with ridership and finances hit since COVID began These have been tough times But I have been heartened throughout it by the strength of community across public transport that has really come to define our sector From the very beginning, we came together knowing that a path through the tough times would be

found in sharing ideas, experiences and working on solutions UITP was in the position to be able to bring the sector together, digitally at first, and then when appropriate, in person. Now that we are in a position to put into practice the best ways to rebuild, and reposition ourselves for the future, hosting the Global Summit gives us the opportunity to drive forward a direction fit for that future Public transport has changed, and as we work on the Barcelona programme, and listen to the views of our Committees, Boards and Working Bodies and Groups, we know that it’s a crucial time to put fresh ideas into place, and come out the other side stronger and in best positioned for tomorrow. This will be a Summit that features all of what our audience recognises, but it will also be a Summit that discusses what the recent times has shown us, and how building back can make for a better public transport sector for everyone

impact on daily functioning, and although public transport cannot solve these problems, we can find solutions in them to best suit our needs and concerns It is safe to say that the public transport sector is experiencing a paradoxical situation: everyone agrees that public transport is essential and part of the solution, but the political and financial support is lacking I remain hopeful that we can address these concerns during the Summit, as the best and brightest minds in the sector will come prepared to debate the challenges

It’s the biggest event of its kind in public transport and urban mobility, just how important is the UITP Summit to the sector?

Very important would be the short answer! It’s not difficult for me to talk about how vital and valued the UITP Global Public Transport Summit is to the sector It is valued and valuable The UITP Summit goes all the way back to 1886, with the first edition hosted in Berlin, one year after UITP was created That means it has been organised for more than 135 years! It's part of the life of public transport and mobility professionals, but also attracts more and more policy makers. I often hear from our members that is the highlight of their calendar, and for many the jewel in the crown of urban mobility gatherings It is not by accident, or an act of chance that we welcome hundreds of exhibitors, speakers, thousands of delegates, and tens of thousands of visitors across three days It’s the defining event in public transport and with the many networking and social events, alongside detailed technical visits, the Summit is the place to be when it is in town!

The global pandemic had a major impact on almost every sector around the world, with public transport facing incredibly difficult times during these past few years. As we look down the road towards Barcelona, where would you say the sector is right now?

The sector is rebuilding, this we know But we also know that it is redefining itself. I think we are all aware that many sectors will not be in the same positions as they were before the pandemic There’s no bouncing back; instead it is building back The sector is in a much better position than it was in 2020 and 2021, ridership has increased in many cities, but remains slower to return in some locations Political incentive was not as strong as it should have been during the pandemic, and public transport has had to fight hard to be seen and heard by decision makers However I am an optimist, and I know that those working in public transport will never stop fighting for its future. What must also be considered of course, is that the pandemic has not, and is not, the only issue public transport faces We are dealing with issues that stem from the pandemic, but also from ongoing conflicts and economic issues around the world We are facing staff shortages, the energy crisis impacts public transport, the climate crisis continues to impact society, as does the ongoing issues with inflation - these all have a negative

There will be hundreds of exhibitors, speakers and delegates, as well as thousands of visitors in attendance over the three days. What can they expect to see and experience?

Well the very first thing a delegate or visitor will see upon arrival is the welcoming faces of the UITP team on our registration desks! And after that, they will see a massive and truly impressive venue full of energy and excitementpacked with exhibitors, speakers and delegates from across the globe Our exhibition has crossed the 80% space sold by the close of November, and is well on track to sell the remaining space at speed There will be more than 300 speakers in our Congress, over 15000 visitors can be expected across three days, and all of this activity will covered by upwards of 150 international press and media representatives. It’s unlikely a corner of the world won’t be covered in some form during the Summit. One thing we are passionate about is building an experience for those in attendance For some this may be the only event of its size they attend each edition For some of the UITP team, they won’t have experienced an event like the UITP Global Summit I’m determined that whatever the experience is, and for whoever it is, they enjoy it, and take something away from it Yes we are all there to showcase public

transport, present innovations, and find solutions, but we’re also there to learn and enjoy It must be an experience to treasure - and I want that for everyone who comes to join us in Barcelona.

What do you hope those in attendance – delegates, visitors, and more - take away from this edition?

I hope that they take many things away from their time at the Summit in Barcelona When they reflect on it, and ask themselves what their experience was like, I hope what comes to mind is positive The feedback we receive after our Summits is always far and away extremely positive. And what is shared with us to improve, we always strive to build upon No one is complacent, but we know that through hard work and a strong focus, we really do have a special event in our hands I also hope that those in attendance are inspired to advance on their own professional projects, and also their personal development The Summit is a human experience – an opportunity to connect with others during the Congress, the Exhibition, and the many networking events. I hope that they feel the warmth that lives in the public transport sector. We all have many friends across this community, and having the

opportunity to come together like this for the first time in what will be four years is not something to take for granted It’s an experience I always cherish

What is your feedback on our Publications i.e. Urban Transport News portal and Magazine?

I applaud the publication of your wonderful news website and magazine for enhancing the overall development of urban & public transportation sectors across the world The Urban Transport Infrastructure magazine is unique in its presentation style

And finally, describe the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in three words?

You’ve given me a tough question to conclude with! I could give you 30 words, 300 words! How about I finish off by reflecting on the ways I’ve presented the UITP Global Public Transport Summit in our conversation so far? “An Inspiring Experience” I hope it’s one many people want to discover for themselves See you all in Barcelona!

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Transformation of Urban Mobility in The Digital Age

MITU MATHUR Director, GPM Architect

Urbanisation is a global phenomenon which often puts a constraint on the existing infrastructure of cities. Post - Covid 19, industries worldwide have witnessed a paradigm shift, especially in urban infrastructure and transportation The sudden need to implement change in infrastructure development has resulted in the suburbanised expansion of cities, leading to a massive demand for innovative, inclusive and sustainable models of mass transit developments

The responsibility to adhere to sustainable methods and strategically utilise resources to our benefit is on the general masses as well as architects and designers of the digital age With urbanisation being inevitable, it is essential to think globally and act locally to efficiently transform smart cities by keeping sustainable strategies at the forefront of Indian infrastructure development. Therefore, development models that align with the augmented infrastructure in cities must be derived with a step-by-step approach to significantly impact larger pockets of growth, which subsequently backtrack to bigger infrastructure networks

Architects, city planners, and policymakers must emphasise the need to criticise the current status of cities and consider urban redevelopment as an opportunity to facilitate and rehabilitate the dying and inadequate transit systems of cities for the betterment of our future. To accomplish the envisioned progressive city, we must bridge the gap between architecture and planning

Public transportation developments are channels of economic revitalisation and social upliftment as they generate more employment opportunities and unlock the real estate opportunities of otherwise under-utilised land parcels. Currently, transportation hubs are mainly isolated envelopes of infrastructure development and do not coincide to form a larger picture of urban infrastructure.

For instance, railway station developments must conduct the transport systems so that the general masses voluntarily prefer the renewed public transport norms Moreover, to facilitate ease of access for cyclists and pedestrian movement, the new-age transit nodes must be analysed with a broader perspective on an urban scale

Transportation hubs are one of the approaches which catalyse the growth of thriving cities, so it’s no wonder that a good deal of infrastructure focus is dedicated to developing railways and rapid mass transit systems Although, new guidelines need to be put in place for urban public transport systems, which in turn will also bring many challenges to the fore, and numerous construction technologies will have to be used to address the issue A systematic approach that responds to a phased-out model is required to gain public trust in mass transit systems Adhering to the social distancing protocols, we need to ideate well-distributed hours to limit contact and focus on non-motorized transport in the initial phases

Under the endeavour of the Indian Railways and RLDA, we undertook the redevelopment and design of several railway Stations, including Ludhiana, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Muzaffarpur, Yesvantpur (Bengaluru) and Jodhpur Apart from fulfilling functional requirements, these new projects are designed to accommodate all safety protocols to ensure passengers have a seamless and safe transportation experience In addition, the pedestrian movement of the arriving and departing passengers is designed in a segregated manner to cater to the heavy footfall. Furthermore, the redeveloped stations are slated to activate urban hubs with state-of-the-art passenger facilities, parking needs, retail options, and food courts

are required in smart cities New business models and strategies are being developed to encourage a new transit system focusing on shared mobility and digitising public transport infrastructure.

The efficiency of public transport depends on the availability of different transport modes and their connectedness. Developing railway stations as multimodal hubs will efficiently enhance the overall quality of urban mobility by reducing distances and travel time, offering maximum comfort to its users To step towards a multimodal development and ensure a safer and more comfortable transportation system, disruptive technologies and relevant modes of transportation, such as nonmotorized vehicular routes and dedicated pedestrian zones,

Public transportation is the backbone of cities; hence providing vital services, particularly during a pandemic, allows us to shape new forms of mobility. Additionally, it is essential to note that a testament to collaborative work is developing new-age transit networks to create a synergy between the centre and the state The focus is shifting towards making the user feel more confident and safe by developing user-centric transportation services through modes of digitisation in the transportation industry Considering the rapidly growing demography, using the present situation as an opportunity to establish mass transit systems and implementing modern technology and userdriven data to re-energize the city’s infrastructure is the way ahead to achieve efficient urban mobility in the digital age ***

Mitu Mathur is an accomplished architect and urban designer with extensive experience in designing public & institutional, master planning and housing projects. As the Director of GPMA, she has been steering the firm’s growth since 2006, exemplifying its collaborative and interdisciplinary approach towards architecture and planning.

URBAN INFRA BUSINESS SUMMIT AND AWARDS 2023

OCTOBER 10, 2023 | INDIA INTERNATIONAL CENTRE | NEW DELHI

Urban Infra Group (Urban Infra Communication, Urban Transport News and Metro Rail Today), in collaboration with leading industries, corporates, government/nodal ministries, PSUs and media firms, is pleased to announce the date of 3rd edition of Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards 2023 The program will be hosted on 10th October 2023 at India International Centre, New Delhi, India

Apart from discussing the business opportunities, new innovations, technology development, challenges in implementation of major urban infrastructure projects and possible solutions by private players, this program will also honour and recognize industry leaders (individuals and corporates) for their extraordinary contribution in developing infrastructure in nation-building through their innovative ideas, products, and services.

Nominations called from the eligible industry leaders/corporates 

KEY DATES

Nominations for Awards (Closing Date): 15th August, 2023 

Announcement of Awardees: 9th September, 2023 

Delegate Registration (Closing Date): 30th September, 2023 

Awards Ceremony: 10th October, 2023 

Venue: India International Centre, New Delhi

Eligibility & Nomination Guidelines

Nominations invited in two categories – Individual and Corporate 

Nominations are open to all individuals/businesses (Govt./Non-Govt.) irrespective of their age and the size of the business. 

The individual nominee should have either in working or retired from the capacity of senior management positions such as MD, CEO, Director, President, Vice President, General Manager etc. 

The nominee must have at least one representative office/person in India and be engaged in development oriented infrastructure projects. 

The nomination form must be filled out either by nominee or authorized representatives.  More than one nomination can be submitted from a company or firm.

Selection Procedure

The winners will be selected by a jury comprising of industry experts and our editorial advisory board

The evaluation will be done based on their contribution and innovative achievements irrespective of the age of the person/business entity

Criteria to be considered by the selection committee include use of latest innovation & technology, result-oriented products & solutions, strong leadership and outstanding track record in the Industry. 

The winners will be awarded an artistic trophy along with a 'Certificate of Appreciation’ in presence of renowned industry leaders.

Evolution of public bike sharing in India: Challenges and way forward

ARJIT SONI CEO, MyByk

Public Bike Sharing (PBS) is revolutionising urban mobility in India As the term suggests, PBS embodies the concept of using bicycles / e-cycles as shared assets of transportation, irrespective of ownership. It is an integral component to ensure inclusive, safe, resilient, sustainable, and futuristic urban development, which aligns with the Sustainable Agenda for Urban Development 2030 and Sustainable Development Goals

At the global level, Copenhagen can be credited with pioneering the adoption of PBS as part of the Traffic and Environment Plan in 1997, wherein bike was at the centerpiece of the entire mobility strategy. Similarly, New York introduced PBS as early as 1997 Back home in India, policies such as National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

(JNNURM), and Smart City Mission laid the beginning of the PBS by emphasizing the implementation of NonMotorized Transport (NMT) infrastructure The learnings from the global model of PBS, the growing interest of international operators coupled with challenges of congestion, pollution and climate change have kindled the interest towards adopting PBS in India

Owing to sustainability, affordability and health benefits, PBS has gradually emerged as a viable and attractive form of mobility in India without the hassle of owning and maintaining a bike Moreover, it offers the convenience of first-mile and last-mile connectivity, eliminating the need for users to change transportation at various nodes According to the Census 2011, among 140 million workers in India who commute for work, a quarter of them travel for less than 1 km to work, and another third of them transit between 2 km and 5 km. This further strengthens the case for adopting Public Bike Sharing in India. Cities such as Ahmedabad, Indore, Kochi, Mysuru, Bhopal and Chandigarh have taken the lead in adopting PBS

However, the need of the hour is to make the system financially viable The business model of a PBS system involves making prudent choices about ownership and financing of system assets and the sharing of revenue and risks among stakeholders. The financial decisions are tied to the contracting structure that allocates risk and

responsibilities amongst stakeholders In India, there are four major business models in operation –

#1: Viability gap funding

Under this model, PBS projects are supported financially by extending grant by either global bodies or state government or civic authority The grant is based on the premise that the project has economic benefits but is economically unviable This model has been adopted earlier in the case of Mysuru’s 2017 ‘Trin-Trin’ PBS initiative, which is jointly funded by the Global Environmental Fund (GEF), the World Bank, the Mysuru City Corporation and the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) Under this project, the Mysuru City Corporation owns the system, while Green Wheel Ride, a city-based manufacturer of eco-friendly bikes, operates and maintains the project Being the first PBS project in the country, the entire cost of capex and opex was borne by the authority and paid to the operator, and any revenue generated retained by the Authority Thus, whether the system performs or not, the project cost for the operator had been covered. Despite the system being free for the first 30 mins of every ride, the system barely saw many users as there was no incentive for the operator to offer a good service and increase revenue

#2: Viability gap funding + advertisement rights

This model combines Viability Gap Funding towards the Capex and Opex of the project along with advertisement rights at the stations and cycles to ensure financial viability while reducing the cost for the city authority For instance, the Bhopal Bike sharing system, the Chandigarh PBS system and the Thane PBS system rely extensively on this model However, under this model, the PBS stations are created at places where there is more advertisement revenue potential, affecting accessibility to the system for people where they actually want to use it Since advertisement revenue comprises a larger portion of the total revenue, it has led to neglect towards bicycle quality and services, leading to questions if this model is workable in the interest of PBS

#3: Open permit based model

The third form has been of MoU or permit-based model This has been implemented in public bicycle sharing systems of Ahmedabad and Bengaluru. Under this model, the Authority issues permit to multiple bike operators to run the system and makes available space for stands across the city free of cost Under the model, the operators invest entirely in the CAPEX and OPEX of the project, decide the fares and keep the entire revenue generated with themselves To discourage profiteering, multiple operators are issued permits to create competition While this model has proven successful in these cities to some extent, there is no restriction on exiting from the permit at any time, thus

leading to suspension of the services by an operator at any time Further, due to lack of financing for bicycles and electric bicycles, operators have been struggling to increase their fleet and expand aggressively.

#4: Public private partnership model

Under this model, the Authority partially funds the system, covering only the CAPEX of the project The PBS in Indore relies on PPP, wherein the authority capped the maximum ask for Viability Gap Funding for the project In this model, the Authority specifies the contract period and the no. of docking stations and cycles to be installed. Since the operator must bear the entire cost of operations and revenue risk during the contract period, they are motivated to offer quality services, conduct events and also offer affordable fares to the users The system proves win-win for all stakeholders, including citizens No wonder, Indore has the fastest growing PBS in the country

Another model which is yet to see uptick in India is the New York Citibike like model. Under this model, a large portion of the PBS is sponsored by a private entity, which gets the branding rights to the system New York City was upholding cycling as the preferred means of transportation, and decided to establish a PBS on the lines of how it witnessed success in other cities In 2011, it selected Alta Bicycle Share to operate the bike share in New York City Citi Bike was created as a public–private partnership operated by NYC Bike Share LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alta and CitiGroup had the lead sponsor’s position to put its name on the bikes. The bike-sharing program is not supported by any subsidy by the city Despite it, it has been thriving year on year by expanding to newer locations and more subscribers, year on year

The bike-sharing program saw 130,000 users in July 2017, up from 100,000 users around the same time in 2016 Though the rising user pool burdened the software to assimilate the information leading to switching of the software company managing the bike-sharing program subscription and several other teething issues that led to shortfall of bikes and more subscribers, the model has only thrived by addressing the demand-supply gaps With a key focus on providing seamless bike subscription followed by the model, it has only aided the model to provide a winwin situation for all the stakeholders ***

This article is authored by Arjit Soni. Arjit is co-founder and CEO of MyByk, a leading bicycle sharing platform in India.

Meet the man behind, the concept of India’s first electric highway

In conversation with

Abhijeet Sinha

National Program Director - Ease of Doing Business Project Director – National Highway for EV President – CPOs India

Abhijeet Sinha is a Technocrat, Policy Entrepreneur currently contributing with tech pilots in the Prime Ministerial initiative on Ease of Doing Business as National Program Director of EoDB Services

His expertise as a next-corporate banker was recognized with success in large infra financing on PPP with Hybrid and Annuity Financing models like AHEM, DHAM; used in various EoDB emerging tech pilots NHEV, DIISHA. He is also President of CPOs India and holding additional charge of renowned National Highway for EV (Jaipur– Delhi– Agra) Pilot Project Director, where he has completed India’s longest 210km E-Highway TECH-Trial Run between Delhi– Agra in 2020.

Early this year in 2022, he commissioned two of India’s Largest EV charging stations with100+112 chargers with a capacity to charge 1500 cars in 24 hours and recorded maximum 72% utilization with a minimal break even tenure of 36 months

In recent interaction with Urban Transport News, Mr. Sinha has shared some very interesting information on next-generation technology to be applied for making EV Industry reliable, safer and sustainable

First, kindly tell our readers about your professional journey and vision towards making India a 5 trillion economy through ease of doing business and tech pilot projects.

I belong to a banking background and one of those 200 elites who left their highly paid posts in 2013 to work for the vision of our current prime minister Shri Narendra Modi After PM’s election, I continued to work towards his nation building mantra which is, Reform-PerformTransform As the name itself suggests, Ease of doing business (EoDB) is an entity which simplifies the business operations, whether it's via carrying out pilot project, providing ecosystem or anything else

The organization serves a sole purpose, which is to turn the vision of making India a 5 trillion economy in reality To comprehend this, let's go through each of its three elements

Reform: Firstly, finding out the emerging technological intervention potentials in 30 various sectors Then developing required reforms in the business framework to turn this potential into reality. This is the first part of PM’s vision, Reform-Perform-Transform.

Perform: Perform denotes that pilot projects and commercial prototypes have paramount potential to deliver sustainable, achievable and viable policy inputs to achieve transformation and a sophisticated entrance of these emerging technologies in Indian economy

Transform: Lastly, Transform signifies the commercial equivalence drawn by these pilot projects and prototype hybrid funding / business models to create a swift and

monumental scale up on a much higher pace through model RFPs (Request for Proposals), concession agreements, Internal trade agreements (ITA) and Hybrid annuity models

With each such emerging technological intervention, GDP contribution in 30 different sectors of economy handled by EoDB team, contributes to unify an additional income which never existed before and only materialized in the business ecosystem after the pilot projects conducted by the EoDB division.

Kindly highlight some major initiatives taken under ease of doing business. How is ease of doing business contributing to a circular economy?

There are approximately 26 emerging technologies (such as Artificial Intelligence, immersive media, robotics, drones, etc.) which are in the focused thematic area of EoDB, where continuous piloting and prototyping is taking place to bring them in mainstream economy distributed in 30 sectors

The brilliant part of EoDB’s output from these piloting and prototyping which contribute as a revenue source or increment into the GDP is that all initial investments and fundings deployed to these scale ups are for a small period and soon these projects will reach their breakeven and start yielding profits on an unimaginable but fixed pattern. In a short time, these projects will become operationally autonomous and financially self-sustainable This creates an excellent model to hold and grow the circular economy

Kindly highlight some salient features of the National Highway for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) Pilot Project. What is the current progress of this project and timelines to complete the project?

The four noteworthy features of National Highway for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) include:

1. Electric Mobility as a service

Till now, majority of the population viewed E-mobility as a product However now with NHEV, electric mobility is transmuting into a service for the people This is a culture shattering step which promotes renting/booking an EV rather than buying it.

2.

New financing model for EVs

For the first time, a new financing model for E-mobility in highway is introduced NHEV has created a funding model called Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility (AHEM)

3. E-Mobility turned profitable

With two complete charging stations and many more to be constructed, NHEV has turned E-Mobility profitable. This brings charging station in direct competition with fuel pump stations technically, financially and commercially

NHEV has completed world’s longest technical trial, TTR1 between Delhi and Agra to achieve success over four pain areas of the industry.

NHEV offers backup under 30 minutes during vehicle breakdown, 30% lesser EV prices for the fleet operators, more than 30% utilization of charging stations and lastly the project reaches breakeven within 36-40 months

Two completely functioning charging stations and miniature unveiling of future charging station by Mr. Nitin Gadkari accounts for the current progress of this pilot project

Are you also considering induction of E-Logistics services through NHEV?

With respect to E-Logistics integration, there will be a Cargo hub at every NHEV charging station which will be working in collaboration with electric two-wheeler and three-wheeler showrooms, also available at the station itself

These showrooms will provide their E-vehicles to the nearby village youth on a subscription basis which will enable them to pick packages through an app and deliver them within a 50-kilometre radius of the station Cargo Hub will work in partnership with companies such as Amazon and Flipkart.

It will prove to be a win-win situation for all as the injection of this service will not only provide more employment opportunities but also increase E-Commerce coverage to remote areas in the station’s radius, which were earlier deprived of such services, sustainably

Kindly highlight some major challenges you have faced/are facing during the trial run on the NHEV pilot project at ground level and how did you overcome them?

Numerous reforms such as the license - free set - up of

4. World's longest E-highway Tech Trial

charging stations were introduced but not executed properly, creating negligible impact in the eyes of the public. There were three major difficulties in our path:

Firstly, the Setup, detailing, and even micro-detailing of a petrol pump is clearly defined in the public domain but standard norms and other relevant details for setting up a charging station were yet unknown and confusing

Secondly, there was ample financial support for the notion and dialogues but at an individual level, financing was a struggle.

Third, everyone knew infrastructural investment is a high CapEx business and the CapEx recovery periods of projects like Petrol pumps or metro were defined and calculated, but the breakeven for setting up of charging stations was unknown leaving the investors confused

Determined to bring happiness and confidence to our stakeholders, NHEV was able to solve these problems in the following ways:

Charging stations with micro details were set up to know the commercial and technological viabilities for a clearer definition of its norms, reducing confusion

The Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility (AHEM) model inspired by Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM), a road financing model, was introduced to solve the struggle for finance and present a defined value for the charging station

With a high charging infrastructure utilisation rate of 30% by NHEV as against 3% in cities, 36-40 months are sufficient for the CapEx to be recovered which no one could figure out before

What is Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) or Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility (AHEM) and how does it work as a new infra-financing tool for NHEV?

Before NHEV, no one ever stepped in for EV infrastructure financing for highways, thus it came up with Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility (AHEM) inspired by Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) holding the capability to change any 300 km highway or expressway into an E-highway within 90 days with charging stations, EV car fleets and buses, along with swift Roadside Assistance (RSA) and less priced EVS for nonstop running on the stretch to secure their repayment

Under AHEM, procurement is done from on-boarded partners and suppliers, selected based on their performance and capabilities unlike traditional lowest bid wins criteria, for CapEx in a fixed amount and deliverables for a considerable period of 12 months (Annuity) to earn OpEx for breakeven in 36 months. This model offers great flexibility and liquidity to the project partners

NHEV has made e-mobility profitable for the first time and is planning to expand by bringing the charging station in direct competition with the petrol pumps technically, financially, and commercially

What is the future of E-mobility in India and what Emobility players can expect from NHEV? Will the NHEV project also create new business opportunities for startups working in e-mobility and charging infrastructure segments?

NHEV is an Ease of Doing Business initiative for the Emobility sector This pilot aims to bring maximum Ease of Doing business for the sector of Electric mobility and create a platform similar to the way that Amazon or Flipkart provides for the listing of products by manufacturers and MSMEs which are then ordered and delivered to the end user.

In the NHEV ecosystem, all the suppliers conducting the pilot with us go through a rigorous process of acceptance in terms of certification, training, and technical and commercial viability Once successful in the onboarding process, the suppliers get orders from the NHEV but most importantly enable them to be listed for procurement in future highways projects

This framework, unlike the traditional procurement models which take up to two years, is quicker and easier where the entire process from onboarding to trial and final delivery is completed within 6 months and with the autonomy to the supplier to introduce the most advanced technologies which could not be achieved earlier due to numerous restrictions and hurdles

NHEV is an Ease of Doing Business initiative for the E-mobility sector. This pilot aims to bring maximum Ease of Doing business for the sector of Electric mobility and create a platform similar to the way that Amazon or Flipkart provides for the listing of products by manufacturers and MSMEs which are then ordered and delivered to the end user.

The NHEV ecosystem not only supports the existing players but also uplifts emerging start-ups and enables them to play a key role in developing E-mobility and charging infrastructure for the new India.

We learnt that NHEV will have an Anti-Theft System. How will this system help the EV owners/operators? Kindly elaborate more about this new technology.

NHEV will be able to create an Anti-Theft system for EVs through the synchronization of three key players:

The EV

EV is registered as electric equipment through a Central Electric Vehicle Equipment Registration System where it also gets its UID Unlike traditional fuel cars, EV theft cases will be handled by Cyber cells, not police, which further shares this data with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).

In the case of EV theft, the cyber cell updates the NCRB data, and the EV ID is flagged as stolen in the central data repository The Battery Management System (BMS) gets flagged by the Central Electric Vehicle Equipment Registration System which deprives it of charging services at the charging stations, on the other hand, Chargers get regular data updates through the central repository and do not charge the car in case the EV is flagged stolen, hindering its mobility.

The Battery Certification agencies like the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), and the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) do rigorous approval testing of Battery Management Systems (BMS) before registration. EV batteries also get a unique serial number and batch ID for easy tracking

The Charger

AC chargers deployed for private utilization require CAF compliance like obtaining a sim card They require a downloadable app which constantly updates the charger with the Central Electric Vehicle Equipment Registration System data. Similarly, DC chargers are deployed for commercial purposes and are always connected to the internet and auto-update

This puts and to the Theft Sale & Drive through effective tracking and unavailability of charging and poses difficulty in Theft & Dismantle as the battery accounts for much of the saleable parts which is trackable leaving behind just the chassis and frame.

NHEV will create an ecosystem of anti-theft EVs with a staggering 95 % success rate bringing confidence towards EV adoption among stakeholders such as Banks, People, Insurance Companies and Fleet Operators

We learnt that the NHEV project is also backed by Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) financing model. How is the PPP model structured in NHEV?

The financing model for NHEV is called Annuity Hybrid

Transforming Urban Mobility

E-mobility (AHEM), inspired by Hybrid Annuity Model (HAM) which was introduced by Shri Nitin Gadkari in 2015. The HAM model is an amalgamation of TollOperate-Transfer (TOT), Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) and Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) models, which has gained great recognition and appreciation from renowned credit rating agencies and institutions such as CRISIL, Moody’s, the IMF, and the World Bank

The introduction of HAM quadrupled the speed of road construction from 9 Kilometre per day to 38 kilometres per day A similar impact will be seen with the introduction of AHEM for converting highways into E-highways through an accelerated process and a significant reduction in cost and time The model is a PPP where the land is to be allotted by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)and the priority to own CapEx, construction, and installation is given to power and petroleum PSUs followed by banks and NBFCs and finally the private players such as Shell and Jio-BP who are already pioneering in this sector. Finally, the model also provides the option for common people such as you and me to own the charging infrastructure

This achieves a rollout plan of a bold reform by the Government of India to encourage people to take ownership of charging stations by simplifying regulations and removing license requirements.

Do you think India's zero-emission target can be achieved only if the price of EVs comes under the budget of common people? According to you, when will a common man be able to switch from Petrol/Dieselpowered Vehicles to Electric Vehicles?

We are witnessing a significant reduction in the idea of owning a vehicle among the newer generation. They are more inclined towards using automobiles as a service centred around the idea of using on demand and then returning to the operator and not owning and using The NHEV project is aligned with similar principles as electric buses and cars from Green Cell Mobility and Blu Smart respectively are deployed on the route which comes with an option to rent and use even without a driver for which two trials have already been conducted. These vehicles are not pulled out after the trial and are continuously in service on the route to let people experience the luxury equivalent of state-of-the-art in-flight level services that include Hot/Cold Towels, Sanitizers, Tissues, Service Hostesses, Soup, Snacks, Juices, Soft Drinks, Personal Screen in front of each seat for Music, Internet Surfing and Work for themselves We call this “Pehle Istemal Karein Fir Vishwas Karein”

The availability of such options for the public will give them more convenience, comfort and confidence to adopt them which will play a significant role in aiding people to

switch to EVs which will pave the way for achieving the target of zero emissions for India.

You have recently joined and shared your thoughts on investment, financing and business avenues in major urban infra sectors in India at our annual flagship program 2nd Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards 2022 held on 7th November 2022 in New Delhi. What is your feedback on this program and suggestions for next editions? Would you like to share some message with the industry leaders?

It is an excellent selection of companies and initiative which is bringing emerging technologies in the metro rail and train sector The cherry-picked solutions and interventions of latest technologies into mass use were appreciated through awards, rarely available, this is the path of growth India as an economy requires today. This growth will provide us with the confidence to propose our large volumes of success in front of the world. Our strength to manage high transportation network length and ability to move millions of people on a daily basis This strength and potential of handling such high volume will place India in the ranking of efficiency, transparency, accountability and precision

A country like us who can deliver these results, definitely is most preferable to carry out such executions of this extent in other country in the future. The way we manage our transportation system, semiconductors, and other sectors is more than sufficient to manage smaller countries with smaller populations The idea of new India is to not only become a product hub but also lead in the emerging technologies My suggestion would be to include multiple forms of mobility and not only limit to Metro and railways Rather include road transportation, aviation, drones, etc. Auxiliary services and their innovations can also be a part of the next edition.

Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards has not only grown as a conference or discussion platform but also building a path to these success stories for mass awareness about implementation and investment of emerging technologies and demonstrating the cycle of investment along with its impact This is the model of circular economy for technology.

I extend my best wishes to the organizers and all the industry stakeholders to bring more inputs in technology and showcase more such ecosystems

Road Safety Perspective: Are the Indian Roads Slaughtering fields?

 Dr. Amudhan Valavan, Advisor, Mallawa Mobility

5 years ago one of my friend who worked in Regional Transport office, lost his only son at the age of 28 in a motorcycle accident After this incident, my friend’s perspective on life completely changed and he worked hard for 30 years to build a successful life but it was all about providing a great life for his family. My friend’s son Athav and I shared a good friendship. Before Athav died, he gave me some great advice. He said, "You spend your life providing but what about you?”

After Athav passed, his father made wrong decisions and stopped working, bought a race car, and raced in the Porsche series, he travelled the world and spent money like there was no tomorrow But none of that killed the pain of missing him. I am thankful for the wisdom but wish he was by my side to see the lesson his death taught me. I love and miss Athav every day but today is his death anniversary (20 11 2022) and it is definitely the hardest day of the year for me

Usually, the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims (WDR) is commemorated on the third Sunday of November each year. It is a high-profile global event to remember the many millions who have been killed and seriously injured on the world’s roads and to acknowledge the suffering of all affected victims, families and communities – millions added each year to countless millions already suffering: a truly tremendous cumulative toll Every year Candle lighting/accident images in Chennai by R-Safe, but Federal institutions were not missing those opportunity only they are following Road Safety Week.

Solving the road safety crisis isn't just about how long we live; it's about how we live In today’s world, no matter where you live, road safety – or the lack thereof – affects your quality of life. Road crashes kill one person every 24 seconds. That’s more than 3000 people killed in a day, of which 500 are children. Due to road crashes 15 Lakhs fatalities and over 90 Lakhs injuries were in the last decade in India In spite of record 155,622 road traffic fatalities in 2021 and Tamil Nadu alone had over 15,000 fatalities in 2021, from 9,000 in 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching consequences, especially for the forgotten road safety crisis And, yet, inadvertently, it was the series of COVID-19 lockdowns that substantially reduced the rate of road traffic deaths drastically.

United Nations SDG targets 3.6 & indicators 3.6.1 respectively as detailed below:

GOAL 3 : GOOD HEALTH & WELL BEING (Ensure healthy lives and Promote wellbeing for all at ages)

TARGETS: 3 6 INDICATORS: 3 6 1

Death rate due to road traffic injuries OPINION

In one steep swoop, and at significant economic cost, political will and collaboration curbed people’s mobility and led us to reaching the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of halving road traffic deaths by 2030 But this great lockdown was not desirable or fully sustainable for any of us

How many lives lost on the road is acceptable?

1.3 million People die in road crashes every year and millions more are injured. Road crashes are the leading killer of young people worldwide

Can we prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads?

Yes we can By making our roads safer! A 1-Star Road is the least safe and 5 star roads are the safest Achieving >75% of Travel on 3 Star or better roads worldwide will save 4, 50,000 lives every year.

How can we create a road environment that keeps everyone safe?

Improvements like traffic calming, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings, cycle lanes, barriers and street lighting help create forgiving liveable streets Safe Roads is key factor in the global plan for the decade of action for road safety 2021-2030. Every country is called to implement the plan. They are -

1 Multimodal Transport and Land use planning

2 3 star Safe Roads

3 Safe Vehicles

4 Safe Behaviour

5 Post-Crash

Enormous progress is being made globally in tackling poor road safety performance, but much more is needed if we are to achieve what we promised our communities – a halving of road deaths and injuries by 2030 The International Road Assessment Programme (iRAP) is a charity dedicated to creating a world free of high-risk roads Through our Partnerships for 2030 Impact strategy, we are collaborating with thousands of partners around the world to find ways to make every journey on a road a safe one We are supporting the implementation of the Global Plan for the Decade of Action 2021-30 and the United Nations agreed Global Road Safety Performance Targets – Target 3 for all new roads to be 3-star or better for all road users and

Target 4 for more than 75% of travel on existing roads to be at that same 3-star or better equivalent standard. We are also very supportive of the UNESCAP regional plan for road safety

Many countries in the region have already set objective, evidence-based policy targets that align with the Global Plan In this region that includes Vietnam and Australia, and farther afield that includes Uganda and Brazil. Those countries are now focused and able to celebrate success with every 3-star or better road upgrade in their country.

Our country India also can too The iRAP methodology and tools are freely available worldwide With those tools, partners in government, development banks, research institutes, NGOs and the private sector are:

• Star Rating roads, schools and designs for safety.

• Creating practical, effective plans for investment in life saving road improvements.

• Building local road safety capacity and expertise

• Establishing and monitoring policies that will see most travel on 3-star or better roads for everyone – including the ESCAP regional strategy

• Creating design standards such as the ESCAP safety standard for the Asian Highway Network

• And, most importantly, saving lives and preventing lifechanging injuries.

More than 1 million km of roads have now been Star Rated worldwide Our latest analysis of a sample of assessments of roads that have been performed by partners in 83 countries helps to explain why road trauma is still so common For example:

• 82% of roads where speeds are 40km/h or more still have no formal sidewalks for pedestrians.

• 76% of roads where speeds are 80km/h or more still have no median separation, meaning people are killed in head-on crashes with predictable regularity

• 35% of pedestrian crossings are still in poor condition

• More than 50% of travel for vulnerable road users is still on 1 or 2-star roads

These are concerning statistics But they also point to the enormous opportunities that we have to protect our communities. Good speed management and infrastructure such as 30km/h speeds in busy built-up areas, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, raised slow-speed pedestrian crossings and safety barriers are like vaccines – with them we can eradicate road death and serious injury These types of treatments have large, positive multiplier effects Protected bicycle lanes not only save lives but for every $200 spent, one tonne of greenhouse gas emissions is mitigated each year. Street lighting at intersections improves safety for everyone but we also know it is important factors in ensuring people, especially women, feel comfortable walking more

Providing a 5-star walking and cycling environment will stimulate greater use of public transport, which must be a part of our strategy for safe and sustainable journeys, especially in Asia where more than 100,000 people are moving to cities every day Cities such as Bangkok, Jakarta and Manila are showing how to stimulate sustainable transport by providing the option for people to take public transport Investment in safe and sustainable infrastructure is also one of the best ways for governments to stimulate economies, with more than $8 of benefits for every $1 invested in safe infrastructure development.

Infrastructure investment boosts economic activity, creates jobs and leaves a positive legacy of economic growth that is more resilient, sustainable, and productive So, I urge everyone here today, to make use of the ESCAP regional strategy make full use of the freely available iRAP tools as part of a commitment to ensuring that every journey on your roads and streets is safe. Lives depend on us.

freedom of movement safely. Further afield, the Social Progress Index (SPI) – the global framework for measuring aspects of wellbeing – also credits road safety as a core measure for social progress The SPI links people’s sense of personal safety to the rate of road traffic deaths, and ultimately deems road safety to be a basic human need in a successful society This is a worthy goal to aspire to

Changes to road safety systems can save lives:

Citizens everywhere – particularly in the world’s 125 lowand-middle income countries where 93% of road traffic deaths occur – are holding governments accountable for the promise of affordable, accessible and sustainable transport systems that improve road safety Supporting how long we live doesn’t have to be expensive nor does it have to come at the expense of how we live - we can and should aspire to achieve both through targeted road safety financing. From an average of US$100,000 to just over US$300,000 worth of development assistance per country, changes to road safety systems are saving lives in developing countries most affected by this crisis More so, authorities can replicate the successful community-centered development strategies Many countries have picked up on the growing discomfort that citizens feel when faced with unliveable streets and spaces This is especially true as more regions worldwide are strategically promoting priorities: such as communitycentered city development in Zambia or a greater share of walking and cycling lanes in Ethiopia.

Linking road safety to quality of life

Vulnerable road users account for about 54% of global road traffic deaths. People in cars are between eight and 20 times less likely to be killed in a road crash than pedestrians, bicyclists, or motorized two-wheelers. It’s safe to say that, for citizens worldwide, there is a larger issue at stake when it comes to improving road safety – it's about our wellbeing and quality of life After all, that was the promise that all 193 UN Member States made in 2015 In fact, linking the notion of road safety to not only how long we live, but also how we live isn't new The imperative to improve road safety appears twice in the 2030 Global Development Agenda. First, with the goal to halve road traffic deaths under the SDG that addresses health and wellbeing. Second, under SDG 11, “Which addresses the need to balance our urban development with social, economic and environmental sustainability, all the while explicitly calling for improved road safety”.

Of course, the measure of success for halving road traffic deaths and injuries is the waning rate of traffic deaths While substantially lowered death rates are critical, this context ignores the opportunity that improved road safety provides: the chance to enjoy healthy lives, wellbeing, and

Given that we know that people want to be able to walk, cycle and move safely, policymakers and city officials don’t have to go it alone UN agencies, companies and civil society all play a role in this and can offer their expertise

Causes of Death Post Road Accident

• Injuries are fatal

• Ad hoc rescue by the first responder

• Untrained help by first responder

• Patient shifted to hospital by car, auto, tempo, jeep etc instead of ambulance

• Stabilisation is not done in Golden Hour

• Ambulance still not functioning as level 4 trauma centre

• Patient reaches wrong hospital

• Non-scientific Inter hospital transfer

• Delay in attending the patient in trauma care centres due to various reasons

• Lack of infrastructure and resource mobilisation at various levels

• Lack of skilled manpower in ambulance and trauma centre to handle trauma patients

• Delay in curative treatment

Impact of Unplanned ,untrained and ad hoc approach

• More deaths are caused at post accident

• Delay or wrong help worsens the patient’s condition

• Due to complication patient stays for longer duration in hospital

• Overburdened health care infrastructure is unable to handle more patients, so more patients requiring complications treatment which means more deaths post-accident

• It is vicious circle – one problem leads to another and so on

Road accidental death can be reduced by:

• 30% if first responder doesn’t mishandle the accident victim

• 30% if stabilisation happens in Golden Hour

• 30% if curative treatment is started within 4 Hours

Why the accidents are high in Tamil Nadu?

Tamil Nadu had over 15,000 fatalities in 2021, from 9,000 in 2020. 2969 No’s of engineering institutes has 14 lakhs engineering seats and 595 Medical colleges have 90000 MBBS every year, are awarded Graduate degrees every year in India In whole country maximum engineering institutes and seats are in Tamil Nadu Unfortunately, it's frustrating and disappointing that, in India, not a single Graduate in Traffic/Road Safety Engineering and Management!!

The top most priority should be Speed Management. First implement the decision of the Madras High Court, maximum posted speed limit 80kmph on Expressways and National Highways Order not being followed and implemented Order is being violated by the road and enforcement authorities, NHAI, PWD/CPWD etc Reported 90000 fatalities of mainly breadwinners, during 2021 in India, due to excessive over-speeding.

The population shares of drunken citizens are high i.e.12.27% in Tamil Nadu with national average is only at 9.91%.

The population share of Poor is very low i e 4.9% in Tamil Nadu with national average at 25.01%. The middle class and lower middle class parents are having easy affordability to buy sports bikes and rash driving possibility vehicles and giving it to their teen kids and it leads to more accident with around 25% as victims by the age of 25 to 30.

Road safety education from school curriculum plays a vital role in shaping the attitude and behaviour of children as well as young people, thereby ensuring that they become a responsible driver, passenger, pedestrian, and cyclist

The procedure of Driving Test should be changed through the help of online test and IoT Automation Systems and severe procedures adopted for the accreditation of Driving School Approval and Renewal method

Safe Roads are essential to keeping all road users safe. Let's build 3 star or better roads for all! Safe Roads can help prevent deaths and serious injuries on our roads around the world

In India, 80000 black spots (76%) in the National Highways which has to be reduced drastically

Inadequate specialist-knowledge on road safety matters, with huge shortages of genuinely qualified, trained, skilled and experienced professionals, with hardly specific and specialist knowledge on road safety matters / proven interventions, creating more doctors in the society than creating Road Safety professional is only proactive steps by the Government The society in India has brainwashed the public for more than 5 decade, that Doctors and Engineers are the only professionals We should spread that the Road Safety professionals are also serving life better than the Software Engineers and General Medicine Doctors.

My question to the Federal Institutions and Society are as below:

• Why No Graduate Degree Courses are offered / Holders or No Post Graduate Degree Courses are offered / Holders in India, exclusively and explicitly on Road Safety Matters, in India, so far?

• Why No genuinely qualified Road Safety/ Traffic Analyst professionals in India?

At least, let us take an oath now “Take the time to enjoy the ride while you are driving for success. Don't sacrifice family for success." In your life, you touched so many. In your death, many lives were changed".

"Look twice and save a life".

***

India need to accelerate clean mobility towards a greener

India has identified clean mobility as a part of the larger goal of limiting the impacts of climate change. India pledged to reach net - zero carbon emissions by 2070 and to increase its non-fossil energy capacity to 500 gigawatts by 2030 at the 26th Conference of Parties (Glasgow) in 2021 Between 2021 and 2030, India pledged to cut one billion tonnes of estimated carbon emissions

Mobility in India is undergoing a paradigm shift to move towards greener options With a sectoral share of 13 2% and a current GDP contribution of 6 3%, India’s transportation industry ranks third in terms of Carbon dioxide (CO2) equivalent emissions. It is anticipated that rapid developments in technology, accessibility, affordability, and sustainability will redefine mobility solutions

As per data available from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, a total of 13,92,265 electric vehicles are running on the roads of India, of which, the total number of three-wheeler stands at 7,93,370, two-wheeler at 5,44,643 followed by the number of four-wheeler that stands at 54,252 The growth scenario is expected to be ramped up over the coming 3-5 years

However, critical actions, such as charging infrastructure, the safety of the EVs, renewable energy-powered EV charging, and electrifying last-mile delivery are the need of the hour to create a sustainable EV ecosystem in India. One of the main issues facing the EV industry right now is the lack of charging infrastructure There are just 1,800 public charging stations throughout the nation at the moment To meet the increased demand brought on by the estimated 1 4 million EVs predicted to be driving on the roads by 2027, this number is anticipated to rise to 1,00,000 units.

Assuming a 30% EV penetration into an estimated 10 million car population by 2030, Delhi alone is expected to require over 300,000 high-speed charging stations, requiring an investment of about $1 5 billion (about Rs 11,000 crore)

India needs to change its transportation strategy to put more emphasis on public transportation (mainly e-buses

tomorrow

and rail-based systems) in addition to private vehicles in order to fulfil its e-mobility ambitions The strategy of the current path of introducing more cars that use expensive imported gasoline is not sustainable in the long run Cars clog up already crowded cities that are plagued by infrastructure bottlenecks and severe air pollution. On the other hand, a focus on public transportation and the resulting decrease in CO2 will greatly improve the liveability and environment of crowded cities

Original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are putting a lot of effort into accelerating the manufacturing of EV batteries With the government’s push towards clean mobility, by providing capital subsidy through Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India, (FAME) India Scheme Phase II and state-level initiatives, OEMs will have a vast manufacturing ecosystem in place to supply the components and vehicles

As there is little knowledge of EVs among car owners and a great deal of scepticism about them, there is a need for an outreach campaign to encourage people to switch to EVs because they are not only affordable but also help the environment. To ease these concerns, customers must be informed about the advantages of EVs and the proposed infrastructure by city administrations and the automotive industry Exhibitions, sales at a discount, information sharing, the use of cost- and emission-saving calculators, and real-time monitoring of financial and environmental advantages are just a few examples of such outreach strategies

With the launch of e-autos and e-buses Delhi inducted under Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC), EVs in Delhi have seen steady growth in the past 2 years. The sales of EVs along with the charging points, charging stations, and battery swapping stations have exponentially increased, signifying a major shift towards EVs This model should be adopted by other states as well, resulting in lesser carbon emissions and clean mobility

India will quickly convert to having ecologically friendly and economically advantageous transportation systems and fulfilling its climate goals if cities are successful in playing their part in driving the EV transition, with enough assistance from the centre and states

This article is authored by Dr. Satish Kumar, President & Executive Director at Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy (AEEE). AEEE is one of the leading organisation in India that works on creating awareness about energy efficiency. Views expressed are personal and do not reflect the official position or policy of Urban Transport News.

Rail Technology & Innovation Leaders

Rail, Metro & Bus Operators

Railway Board, Indian Railways

Rail, MRTS, LRTS, Ropeways, Pod Taxi

Why transit-oriented development is crucial to India’s public transportation?

 Kunal Kumar and Neha Awasthi

Transit - oriented Development (TOD) is a strategic planning intervention and financial instrument for sustainable development and decarbonising commuter travel The transport sector accounts for 13% of India’s energy-related CO2 emissions. Efforts to decarbonise the commuter movement in Indian cities are critical to achieving the bold commitments made by India during the COP-26 summit and accruing health benefits to the citizenry For 2022–2023, the Government of India has reserved more than Rs 76,000 crore for the development of urban areas, and nearly 31% of this is being invested in creating metro-rail infrastructure in cities across India

With an aim to decongest and reduce vehicular emissions, this extraordinary investment in the public transport sector also holds the key to the future in terms of delivering resilient, dynamic, liveable, and sustainable urban centres

With more than 700 kilometres of operational metro network in India, it is often noticed that, over a period of time, the character of development along these corridors has changed This is reflected by an increase in the number of commercial establishments, the emergence of paratransit modes (like cycle rickshaws, autos, and e-rickshaws) for last-mile connectivity, an increase in the number of pedestrians on the road, and so on The majority of this is an incidental market response, mostly driven by individual landowners at the plot level.

When these transition factors are planned strategically around any public transit mode, it is termed as Transit Oriented Development (TOD) It is an integrated land use and transport development approach that combines spatial planning and financing strategies to promote walkability as primary mode of transport and support a diverse and high density development around public transit.

Indian cities have a huge potential to implement TODs to improve living conditions and also promote these areas as large scale investment hubs for economic development in cities More than 20 cities investing in the development of public transport networks, opens-up a huge opportunity for them to also harness the larger potential of sustainable growth through this investment With a few states having a notified TOD Policy leaves us with few options to have projects to realise TOD on-ground. “Higher FAR/FSI” has emerged as a popular choice among the cities that are trying to realise TOD The supportive paradigms of TOD like the diversity through mix of uses with round-the-clock activities; design for creation of new, universally accessible

public spaces to promote cycling and walking, needs more attention

The success of transit oriented urban regeneration projects in Curitiba, London, Tokyo, New York, Singapore, and other cities attributes to placing a clear development strategy at the earliest possible stage of a transport project’s life cycle, thus ensuring predictability and consistency to lay the foundations for long term projects It is important for Indian cities to take the right course by creating the “right” TOD environment for constructing a strong public realm around stations with a strategy to make “stations” a “destination. ”

TOD, as a concept, is not “business as usual” it is an extraordinary circumstance resulting from an extraordinary investment, thus requires a differential approach Multisectoral visioning and coordination of various departments, extensive community engagement and huge investment to develop state-of-the-art infrastructure are some of these differential approaches Canary Wharf and King’s Cross in London or Shinjuku and Shibuya in Tokyo are some of the iconic TOD projects that showcase the complexity of coordination, funding and scale of the incremental approach required to realise such projects on the ground

TODs require a collaborative approach where risks are shared between government, community and private developers in creating a conducive environment for projects to pick-up Reimagining the role of government agencies and re-thinking planning, financing (through various value capture tools), and implementing TOD projects are required

The city authorities need to act proactively and Reimagine TOD beyond Higher FAR/FSI A high density area with improved road access, public open spaces, walk to work opportunities gains “iconic” status and tends to become destinations that are identity of the neighbourhood and the city.

In the FAR/Density dominated policy environment, the core principle of a TOD might lose its essence The focus on (re)creating a finer network of streets in and around transit stations that is developed on the “Pedestrian-First” principle is the core of the policy, planning and design Such network needs to be characterised by sidewalks, finegrain block structure with shorter block lengths, frequent intersections, safe pedestrian crossings that are well connected with a network of green trails, parks, open public spaces. This is critical to creating a more accessible public transport system and converting short vehicular trips to walk trips These nodes are the opportunity areas for Indian cities to encourage “walking” and “cycling” as a Life Style for Environment (LIFE) moment initiative

A commercial project might be financially viable, residential might address the housing needs, institutional

use may serve the social purpose For sustainable neighbourhoods, a combination of, firstly- densified node in terms of people, households and jobs and secondly- a ‘round-the-clock’ destination which is served by a ‘roundthe-clock’ public transport facility, is essential. To achieve these, a viable mix of activities based on the local context will be critical Transit nodes are suitable locations for delivering affordable rental housing units for all economic groups

In order to “pull” people towards public transport, there is a need to “push” personal (motorised) vehicles away A development oriented approach without a supportive strategy to manage traffic and incentivise the use of public transport might not fully reap the benefits. Parking norms and pricing need to be structured in a way that disincentives private vehicles and supports public transit ridership Parking needs to be treated as an “asset” rather than a “service” within TOD

To conclude, it is critical to prioritise the human dimension of transportation, and recognise that the metro / public transport business is more than just concrete, steel, rail, and rubber. TOD is a strategic planning intervention and financing tool for sustainable development and decarbonising commuter movements There is scope for cities to innovate by creating supportive legislative environments and building institutional capacities to lead TODs With strong precinct planning, cities will need to develop a marketing strategy to attract investment for financial sustainability. Internationally, a “dynamic” spatial planning approach, which “engages” local community and various stakeholders throughout the planning and development process with “innovative funding” models for value capture and project financing has helped expedite TOD projects Japan’s Rail + Property development or UK’s Crossrail Oversite Developments, reflect the same To leap-frog the sustainable development trajectory, it is time for Indian cities to re-imagine and explore “out-of-the-box” development approaches that are beyond the conventional rule book.

***

This article is co-authored by Kundan Kumar IAS, & Joint Secretary, Adviser, NITI Aayog and Neha Awasthi, Urban Planner & Consultant, NITI Aayog. Views are personal.

Leveraging the positive growth outlook for logistics in 2023

RIZWAN SOOMER CEO & MD DP World Subcontinent

The logistics industry, as we see it, is undergoing transformative change Global variables such as changing consumer demand and ongoing economic uncertainties are necessitating changes in the supply chains that require resilience and flexibility With the pandemic accelerating the shift to digital, the ecosystem is challenging us to think differently. The industry players are faced with the need to develop sophisticated yet intuitive platforms to drive cost as well as time efficiencies With innovation as the key enabler, the sector has done well to connect demand to supply and, in the process, plotted a strong road to recovery

India’s strong macroeconomic fundamentals has helped it navigate global headwinds better than most economies in the world In 2022, Government of India has been able to deftly balance economic growth with inflationary pressures, while promoting domestic manufacturing as well as export led growth India’s exports performance is one of the key highlights of the year, having exceeded USD $400bn of exports in FY22 as well being on the path to increase it further in FY23. Keeping up with this positive post-pandemic recovery in trade, we, at DP World are geared up for the anticipated growth in demand for logistics services to support customer supply chains

Our efforts are focused on the digital augmentation of logistics services DP World has strengthened its presence and capability in the Indian and overseas technology domain to drive its ambitions to penetrate new markets and grow in mature markets by offering innovative trade solutions based on digital technologies. We have set up technology centres in India in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and the latest one in Gurugram Fulfilling our vision of building technologically advanced integrated services to help trade flow, our people at these centres, work on cutting-edge applications of heavy automation, AI/ML,robotics – such as DP World’s unique proprietary Box Bay technology and digital products for trade finance and e-commerce

Record exports of ‘Made in India’ goods one of the key highlights of the year

A year of path-breaking policies in the logistics sector

This year, the logistics sector has seen several key initiatives being accelerated, while new policies have also been introduced. The most significant has been the launch of the National Logistics Policy (NLP), which will go a long way in establishing an integrated tech-enabled logistics network in India The three - pronged approach adopted in the policy to suggest regulatory and procedural reforms across infrastructure, services and human capital provides a comprehensive strategic direction to the sector and will be a key catalyst in driving investments into it The policy’s push for digitisation through platforms like Unified Logistics Interface Platform (ULIP) and E-Logs is crucial, as it will help bring the entire multimodal network onto a single digital dashboard, enhancing visibility and transparency for all stakeholders In a diverse sector like logistics, this will be crucial, as it will enhance coordination and help reduce the turnaround time for cargo delivery

The NLP’s emphasis on promoting multi-modality will help further bring cost efficiencies by encouraging greater use of time and cost-effective modes such as rail and coastal shipping The impetus to develop multimodal logistics parks will ensure increased connectivity with the hinterland and will give users access to create customized transport and storage configurations For example, our Multi Modal Logistics Parks (MMLPs) in Gujarat, Telangana and NCR operate as multi-modal hubs facilitating a range of logistics sub-services such as longhaul transport, consolidation, and distribution, first and last mile services and warehousing.

While our MMLPs serve the hinterland through multimodal offerings; the three Free Trade Zones strategically positioned adjacent to major ports along the coastline will create unique opportunities for our Indian as well as global customers to use India as a hub for re-export By combining domestically produced goods and imported goods / components through on-site value addition, our free trade zones will open more avenues of trade for businesses not only in India but also for the ones in neighbouring countries Connecting major trading hubs through multi-modal logistics will help our customers to move their cargo more efficiently and, in a cost-effective manner

Another key achievement this year has been the various multilateral and bilateral partnerships signed by India. These include the commitments under the I2U2 grouping and CEPA, which will significantly help increase market access for ‘Made in India’ goods to different geographies across the world These initiatives, along with Sagarmala and PMGatishakti, will go a long way in helping develop not only India’s domestic trade network, but also provide Indian products a gateway to become part of global value chains

Building resilience remains a key imperative in 2023

We are entering 2023 in a period when global supply chains are still uncertain due to external shocks Strengthening resilience in existing supply chains will be one of the key priorities of businesses globally Organisations will have to work with their supply chain partners in tandem to identify critical nodes in their existing supply chains and create capabilities to swiftly tackle any disruption.

Building agile business systems, enabled with a technology driven supply chain, will be significant to optimise operations and take data driven decisions Enhancing sustainability in the ports and logistics sector will be another key watch-out, as the government continues to strive towards its net zero emissions target While the government has provided a well-deliberated strategic direction to the sector in 2022, 2023 will be the year of implementation, where the industry incumbents must come together to implement these directives effectively. Moving towards this direction will further help trade flow seamlessly from India and enable Indian businesses to achieve their full potential ***

This article is authored by Rizwan Soomar. Rizwan is an accomplished leader with a career spanning over two decades in the logistics sector. He is presently holding the post of CEO & Managing Director - DP World Subcontinent, DP World.

INDUSTRY EVENT CALENDER 2023

Dates Event Name Venue

January 12-15 Auto Expo 2023 Greater Noida, India

January 17-18 RATA 2023 Tampere, Finland

January 26 InfraTalk Virtual

February 16-18 Logistics New Delhi, India

February 21-23 International Railway Summit Rome, Italy

February 23 Rail Business Awards London, UK

March 2-3 UITP India Urban Rail Seminar New Delhi, India

March 8-10 Eurasia Rail Istanbul, Turkey

March 15-16 Rail Infra Forum Berlin, Germany

March 21 Accelerate Rail London, UK

May 15-16 Middle East Rail Abu Dhabi, Dubai

May 25-26 RailTrans Expo 2023 New Delhi, India

May 31/June 1 Asia Pacific Rail Bangkok, Thailand

June 4-7 UITP Global Public Transport Summit Barcelona, Spain

June 21-22 Rail Live Warwickshire, UK

June 27-28 Africa Rail Johannesburg, Africa

July 6 Rolling Stock Networking Derby, UK

September 6-7 Railway Forum Berlin, Germany

October 3-5 World Passenger Festival Vienna, Austria

October 10 Urban Infra Business Summit & Awards New Delhi, India

October 12-14 International Railway Conference New Delhi, India

October 27-29 Urban Mobility India Conference & Expo New Delhi, India

November 29 Rail Live Madrid, Spain