Railways against Metro foray

Even at a time when the Metro rail business is booming in India, with several cities planning such a service, the Ministry of Railways is not in favour of entering the segment.

According to a top-level official, the railways are convinced of Metro services being an unviable proposition.

"There is not even a single instance of a Metro service becoming viable anywhere in the world. Of course, if the government wants to run a Metro service as a social obligation, it can do so. But the railways do not have the resources to fund such an expensive proposition," he said.

The railways had learnt their lesson after having run the Kolkata Metro, which has making losses year after year. In his assessment, the Delhi Metro, too, was not a viable proposition, he said.

Several cities such as Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Kochi are planning to start Metro services. But the operator in almost every city is likely to be a private player since the railways have not entered any of these projects.

"For a project that costs Rs 1,000 crore, annual charges such as depreciation and ammortisation alone mount up to around Rs 200 crore. Will any Metro be able to make that kind of money from ticket sales?" the official wondered.

The cost of setting up a Metro's infrastructure and rolling stock was so high that even doubling ticket fares would not help, he felt.