Urban rail transit in India


Urban rail transit in India consists of suburban rail, rapid transit, monorail, light rail, and tram systems.

Suburban rail

plays a major role in the public transport system of many major Indian cities. These services are operated by Indian Railways. Suburban rail is a rail service between a central business district and the suburbs, a conurbation or other locations that draw large numbers of people on a daily basis. The trains are called suburban trains. These trains are also referred to as "local trains" or "locals". The suburban rail systems in Hyderabad, Pune, Barabanki–Lucknow, Lucknow–Kanpur and Bengaluru do not have dedicated suburban tracks but share tracks with long-distance trains. The suburban rail system of Chennai and Mumbai have both dedicated tracks and tracks shared with long-distance trains.
The first suburban rail system in India is Mumbai Suburban Railway which started operations in 1853. The Kolkata Suburban Railway has the largest network in the entire country.
Suburban trains that handle commuter traffic are all electric multiple units. They usually have nine or twelve coaches, sometimes even fifteen to handle rush hour traffic. One unit of an EMU train consists of one power car and two general coaches. Thus a nine coach EMU is made up of three units having one power car at each end and one at the middle. The rakes in the suburban rails run on 25 kV AC. Ridership on India's suburban railways has risen from 1.2 million in 1970–71 to 4.4 million in 2012–13. The suburban railways of Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai account for about 7.1% of the Indian Railways 20819.3 million train kilometres but contribute 53.2% of all railway passengers. In some cities of India, the opening of rapid transit systems have led to a decline in the use of the suburban rail system.
SystemCityStateOpening YearSystem Length No of LinesNo of StationsGaugeTractionNotes
Mumbai Suburban RailwayMumbaiMaharashtra16 April 1853427.56140 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE		First suburban railway
Kolkata Suburban RailwayKolkataWest Bengal15 August 1854124325365+ broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE		Largest suburban railway
Lucknow–Kanpur Suburban RailwayLucknow
Kanpur		Uttar Pradesh23 April 1867722 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Chennai Suburban RailwayChennaiTamil Nadu2 April 19315094150+ broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE		Largest Suburban Railway in South India
Delhi Suburban RailwayDelhiDelhi1 October 197585-100 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Pune Suburban RailwayPuneMaharashtra16 April 1978632 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Hyderabad Multi-Modal Transport SystemHyderabadTelangana9 August 200343336 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Barabanki–Lucknow Suburban RailwayBarabanki
Lucknow		Uttar Pradesh9 August 2013362 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Pernem–Karwar Suburban RailwayGoa
Karwar		Goa, Karnataka1 April 20151001 broad gaugeDiesel
Nagpur Broad Gauge MetroNagpurMaharashtraPlanned268.634 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE		Suburban Railway Network operated by Metro Agency. DPR Approved by Railway Board.
Bengaluru Commuter RailBengaluruKarnatakaPlanned2002 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Ahmedabad Suburban RailwayAhmedabadGujaratPlanned52.962 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Delhi–Alwar Regional Rapid Transit SystemDelhi
Alwar		Delhi, RajasthanPlanned16422 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Delhi–Meerut Regional Rapid Transit SystemDelhi
Meerut		Delhi, Uttar PradeshPlanned8216 standard gauge25 kV AC
OHE		PM Modi laid the foundation stone on 8 March 2019
Delhi–Panipat Regional Rapid Transit SystemDelhi
Panipat		Delhi, HaryanaPlanned10316 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE
Coimbatore Suburban RailwayCoimbatoreTamil NaduProposed2 broad gauge25 kV AC
OHE

Rapid transit (Metro)

There are currently 13 operational rapid transit systems in 21 cities in India. For instance, the Delhi Metro itself is connected to few other nearby cities in the National Capital Region. As of August 2019, India has of operational metro lines and 540 stations. A further 500+ km of lines are under construction. Metro rail lines in India are composed of mainly standard gauge. Projects like the Kolkata Metro and Delhi Metro used broad gauge for their earliest lines but all new projects in India are on standard gauge as rolling stock is of standard gauge.
Apart from the Kolkata metro, these rapid transit metro lines are not operated by Indian Railways but by separate local authorities. In addition to their metro systems, the cities of Chennai and Hyderabad have mass transit systems operated by the Indian Railways, known as the Chennai MRTS and the Hyderabad MMTS, respectively.
The first rapid transit system in India is the Kolkata Metro, which started operations in 1984. The Delhi Metro has the largest network in the entire country. The newest metro opened is Nagpur Metro on 8 March 2019.
In 2006, the National Urban Transport Policy proposed the construction of a metro rail system in every city with a population of 20 lakh. On 11 August 2014, Union Government announced that it would provide financial assistance, for the implementation of a metro rail system, to all Indian cities having a population of more than 1 million. In May 2015, the Union Government approved the Union Urban Development Ministry's proposal to implement metro rail systems in 50 cities. The majority of the planned projects will be implemented through special purpose vehicles, which will be established as 50:50 joint ventures between the Union and respective State Government. The Union Government will invest an estimated. In a new draft policy unveiled in March 2017, the Central Government stated that it wanted state governments to consider metro rail as the "last option" and implement it only after considering all other possible mass rapid transit systems. The decision was taken due to the high cost of constructing metro rail systems. In August 2017, the Union Government announced that it would not provide financial assistance to new metro rail project, unless some sort of private partnership is involved.
The Mumbai Monorail, which opened on 2 February 2014, is the first operational monorail system used for rapid transit in independent India. Many other Indian cities have monorail projects, as a feeder system to the metro, in different phases of planning.
SystemCityStateOpening yearSystem length No of linesNo of stationsTractionNotes
Mumbai MonorailMumbaiMaharashtra2 February 201419.52117750 V DC Third railWorld's sixth longest monorail after Phase 2 opened on 3 March 2019.
Chennai MonorailChennaiTamil Nadu57337Centre approved Chennai monorail project, to be implemented under DBFOT model.
Kolkata MonorailKolkataWest Bengal722
Allahabad monorailAllahabadUttar Pradesh70.42
Kanpur MonorailKanpurUttar Pradesh633
Aizawl MonorailAizawlMizoram
Bhubaneswar MonorailBhubaneswarOdisha
Jodhpur MonorailJodhpurRajasthan
Kota MonorailKotaRajasthan
Tiruchirappalli MonorailTiruchirappalliTamil NaduProposed.
Coimbatore MonorailCoimbatoreTamil NaduProposed.
Warangal MonorailWarangalTelanganaProposed.
Chandigarh MonorailChandigarh TricityHaryanaProposed.
Shimla MonorailShimlaHimachal PradeshProposed

Light rail

or light rail transit is a form of urban rail transit using rolling stock similar to a tramway, but operating at a higher capacity, and often on an exclusive right-of-way. Two light rail projects have been proposed respectively in Delhi and Kolkata. There would be a total number of 68 stations of light rail in India.
SystemCityStateOpening yearSystem length No of linesNo of stationsGaugeTractionNotes
Vijayawada MetroVijayawadaAndhra Pradesh2020 standard gauge
Greater Nashik MetroNashikMaharashtraN/AN/ADPR being prepared by MahaMetro.
Kolkata Light Rail TransitKolkataWest Bengal212 standard gauge750 V DC Third rail
Delhi Light Rail TransitDelhiDelhi453
Chennai Light RailChennaiTamil Nadu

Tram

In addition to trains, trams were introduced in many cities in the late 19th century, though almost all of these were phased out. The Trams in Kolkata is currently the only tram system in the country. The Calcutta Tramways Company is in the process of upgrading the existing tramway network at a cost of.
SystemCityStateOpening yearSystem length No of linesNo of stationsGaugeTractionNotes
Kolkata TramKolkataWest Bengal187357.1725NA standard gauge550 V DC
OHE		The only operational tram system in India
Mumbai TramMumbaiMaharashtra1874Discontinued in 1964
Nashik TramNashikMaharashtra1889762 mm narrow gaugeDiscontinued in 1931
Chennai TramChennaiTamil Nadu1895Discontinued in 1953
Patna TramPatnaBiharDiscontinued in 1903
Kanpur TramKanpurUttar Pradesh19076.04Discontinued on 16 May 1933
Kochi TramKochiKerala19071000 mm metre gaugeDiscontinued in 1963
Delhi TramDelhiDelhi1908Discontinued in 1963
Bhavnagar TramBhavnagarGujarat1926762 mm narrow gaugeDiscontinued in 1960s

Rolling stock manufacturers

There are three metro rolling stock manufacturers in India under the Union Government's Make in India program, 75% of the rolling stock procured for use on Indian metro systems are required to be manufactured in India.

Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML)

is a Bangaluru-based Public Sector Undertaking company which manufactures mining equipment, heavy engineering as well as metro rail coaches. It manufactures of Rolling Stock consortium with Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Rotem.
built a £26m factory in Savli, Gujarat after it won a contract to supply 614 cars to the Delhi Metro. Production at Savli began in June 2009. In June 2012, the plant won an order to supply semi-finished bogies to Australia.
In 2013, Alstom built a factory in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh after it won a €243 million contract to supply 168 cars to the Chennai Metro. The 156-acre plant will be used to supply trains to cities in India and abroad. It also provides signalling & telecommunications systems.
manufactures rolling stock, ICF has manufactured "Medha Rakes" and is in the process of supplying them to various suburban systems.
;Others
The subject of Railways is in the Union List of the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, giving Parliament the exclusive power to enact legislation concerning it. According to former Minister of Urban Development Kamal Nath, "Since the Metro rail is a central subject, it has been decided that all such projects in the country, whether within one municipal area or beyond, shall be taken up under the Central Metro Acts."
Construction of metros in India is governed by the centrally enacted The Metro Railways Act, 1978 which defines itself as an act to provide for the construction of works relating to metro railways in the metropolitan cities and for matters connected therewith. Operation and maintenance of metros are governed by The Delhi Metro Railway Act, 2002. Both laws were amended in 2009 with the passing of The Metro Railways Act, 2009. The amendment expanded the coverage of both the acts to all metropolitan areas of India.
Initially, state governments attempted to implement metro rail projects through various Tramways Act. However, the Commissioner of Railways Safety, who operates under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, is tasked with providing safety certification for metro rail projects. The CRS refused safety certification unless the projects were implemented under a Metro Act enacted by the state government and published in The Gazette of India. Research Design and Standards Organization, another railway entity, also refused certification to projects not implemented under the criteria. Subsequently, several state governments have enacted their own Metro Acts.