Independent study by NGO says Metro rail will save only 11 minutes of travel time in most cases, not 45 minutes as claimed in project report
Independent study by NGO says Metro rail will save only 11 minutes of travel time in most cases, not 45 minutes as claimed in project report
The proposal for a Metro rail in the city has finally got the state government nod, but it is no time to exult yet, says an NGO.
According to an independent study by the NGO Parisar, the Metro project will not truncate travel time for commuters as claimed by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).
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The Detailed Project Report (DPR) prepared by the DMRC claims each trip of the Metro will cut 45 minutes of travel time. This also includes time saved in walking and the waiting time.
Parisar, using statistics from certain studies conducted by the DMRC, maintains not more than 11 minutes of travelling time would be saved, for 75 per cent of journeys.
According to the DPR, the peak hour road speed in the city is about 20-25 kmph and the proposed metro rail's speed is 33 kmph.u00a0
"At least 75 per cent of the journeys are less than 9 km. We assumed an average speed of 20 kmph for other modes of transport. This means travelling by other modes would take maximum 27 minutes for 75 per cent of the journeys and approximately 16 minutes by the Metro. Thus the time saved is only 11 minutes," said Ashok Sreenivas, the Parisar programme director.
Sreenivas said other parts of the DPR, such as the report on fuel saving, was also flawed and had overlooked many important factors.
"What is important is that they haven't yet explained to us the methods that they have used to calculate the above estimates. So, we cannot comment on their reliability," said Sreenivas.
A letter demanding the methods used was sent to the DMRC in October, but a reply is still awaited.
The Metro was approved by the state government on February 18, six months after the DPR was submitted, and has now been forwarded to the central government for approval. The state and the central governments will each bear 20 per cent of the project cost and the PMC 10 per cent. The remaining 50 per cent will have to be raised externally.
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