Metro lite, metro neo in tier 1 and 2 cities soon: This city to get it first

While presenting the union budget 2021 on February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said that two new technologies - MetroLite and MetroNeo will be deployed to provide metro rail systems at a much lesser cost in Tier 2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier 1 cities too. 

The minister had announced Rs 1,10,055 crore for Railways of which Rs 1,07,100 crore is for capital expenditure. National Rail Plan for India (2030): to create a ‘future ready’ Railway system by 2030, 100% electrification of Broad-Gauge routes to be completed by December, 2023, FM said.

“MetroLite and MetroNeo will be deployed to provide metro rail systems at much lesser costs with the same experience, convenience and safety in Tier 2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier 1 cities also,” she said.

Taking a step ahead, the Urban Development Secretary of Pune met companies which make railway coaches for the construction of these metros. The names of the companies that appear to be attending the meeting are- Bombardier, Siemens, Alstom, Titagarh Wagons, BEML, Bell, Tata Motors, Dialmer, Malco, ABB Tooltech Pvt Ltd-Pune.

The railways will float the tenders for the metro projects and these companies will be able to participate in it and this will be done under the “ Make In India” campaign.

Among the various allocations, the government has already announced an outlay of Rs 5,976 crore and Rs 2,092 crore to fund the Nagpur Rail Project Phase-II and the Nashik Metro, respectively. Key to achieving this will be the realisation of the much-anticipated Nashik Metro Neo project.

The government further aims to make the metro service available in 50 cities in the next 5 years and cities like Gorakhpur, Prayagraj, Jammu, Srinagar, Rajkot, Baroda, Dehradun, Coimbatore, Bhiwandi and few others have got the approval to build metros.

Nashik will become the first city in Maharashtra to adopt the system for which a feasibility report was conducted as far back as January 2019 in consultation with the Nashik Municipal Corporation. In a Detail Project Report sent to the state government, a 32km main route was identified along with 24km of feeder routes.