Lok Sabha Question No. 1992 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-12-11
Subject: Metro Rail Projects in Southern States
Ministry: HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS
Asked by: Thiru Dayanidhi Maran, Dr. T Sumathy Alias Thamizhachi Thangapandian, Shri S Venkatesan, Thiru D M Kathir Anand, Shri Manickam Tagore B, Shri K E Prakash, Shri Suresh Kumar Shetkar, Shri Vijayakumar Alias Vijay Vasanth, Dr. Ganapathy Rajkumar P

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.1992 TO BE ANSWERED ON DECEMBER 11, 2025

## METRO RAIL PROJECTS IN SOUTHERN STATES

## NO.1992.   SHRI S VENKATESAN:

THIRU DAYANIDHI MARAN:

SHRI SURESH KUMAR SHETKAR:

SHRI MANICKAM TAGORE B:

SHRI VIJAYAKUMAR ALIAS VIJAY VASANTH:

SHRI K E PRAKASH:

DR. GANAPATHY RAJKUMAR P:

DR. T SUMATHY ALIAS THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

THIRU D M KATHIR ANAND:

Will the Minister of HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a)    whether the Government has rejected multiple metro rail proposals submitted by southern States including the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for the Coimbatore and Madurai Metro Rail projects citing 2017 Metro Rail Policy  and  population  of  that  area  being  below  Twenty  Lakh,  if  so,  the details thereof along with the reasons for approving similar metro projects in several northern and western Tier-II cities such as Agra, Bhopal, Indore and Nagpur having comparable or even lower populations;
- (b) the details of the comparative criteria applied along with the reasons for such regional variation;
- (c) whether it is a fact that the Government continues to rely on 2011 Census population figures for determining eligibility under the Metro Rail Policy and if so, the reasons therefor;
- (d)    whether the Government is considering current demographic estimates for fast-growing southern cities of the country and if not, the reasons therefor along with the updated figures used for appraisal;
- (e)   whether  ridership  projections  submitted  by  southern  States     including Tamil Nadu were rejected without independent or third-party evaluation and if  so, the details thereof and if not, the justification for rejecting the DPRs without such scrutiny;

- (f) whether 50:50 equity-sharing  proposals   submitted    by    southern   States including Tamil Nadu were declined despite similar funding models having been  approved  in  other  regions  and  if  so,  the  reasons  along  with  the precedents in this regard and if not, the reasons for deviation from earlier decisions;
- (g)   whether phased metro systems, light-metro   alternatives  or  hybrid  models combining  Bus  Rapid  Transit  System  with  metro  services  were  examined prior to rejection of these proposals and if so, the details thereof; and
- (h)   whether the Government proposes to reconsider these DPRs in view  of   the rejection of the Coimbatore and Madurai metro proposals which has caused 'deep  public  resentment'  and  if  so,  whether  a  fixed  timeline  would  be prescribed  for  their  review  and  further  processing  and  if  so,  the  details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS

## (SHRI TOKHAN SAHU)

(a)to (h): Urban Transport, which is an integral part of urban development is a State subject. Hence respective Government/ Union Territories are responsible for planning initiation of development of urban transport infrastructure including metro rail projects. Metro projects are cost intensive, therefore  need  to  be  planned  carefully    to  ensure  long  term  sustainability. Therefore, metro projects undergo intensive examination in Central Government at different level in term of extant policy guidelines as and when project is posed by State Government. The approval of project is done after examination  of  proposals  in  entirety  (not  necessarily  on  one  criteria), however  it  is  always  subject  to  feasibility  of  proposal  and  availability  of resources. In view of above, no time lines can be prescribed for approval of such mega projects.

The  proposals  of  Coimbatore  and  Madurai  Metro  Rail  projects  have  been returned mainly due to following reasons:

## Coimbatore

- Low  average  trip  lengths  and  the  existing  average  speeds  on  road,  the modal shift to metro system is not expected due to negligible time savings.

- In  addition to Coimbatore Municipal Corporation (CMC) Area, population of Local Planning Area (LPA), has been taken to be served by Metro system. It is difficult for people living in LPA, which is 5 times bigger than CMC area to use proposed metro system.
- The projected ridership figure of 5.9 lakh per day for proposed network of 34 km of Coimbatore metro is higher as compared to actual ridership figure of 4 lakh per day on 54.10 km operational network of Chennai Metro phase-1, which is serving larger population. Therefore, projected ridership figures in DPR are not realistic.
- At  several  locations,  it  is  not  feasible  to  construct  station  due  to  non availability of enough Right of Way (RoW).

## Madurai

- In the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) submitted by GoTN, it has been clearly  stipulated  that  the  current  ridership  is  justifiable  for  Bus  Rapid Transit System (BRTS).

In Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) of Coimbatore and Madurai metro project, population of Municipal area as per 2011 census has been indicated as 15.84 lakh and 10.18 lakh respectively. However, Comprehensive Mobility Plan(CMP) of Madurai city  indicates population as 15 lakh.

The details of metro projects in Southern states with operational length and under construction network length are as under:

| State      | Metro Projects             |   Operational(km) | Under construction(km)   |
|------------|----------------------------|-------------------|--------------------------|
| Tamil Nadu | Chennai Metro Rail Project |             54.1  | 119                      |
| Karnataka  | Bangalore Metro Projects   |             96.1  | 121.16                   |
| Telangana  | Hyderabad Metro Projects   |             69    | --                       |
| Kerala     | Kochi Metro projects       |             28.48 | 11.2                     |
|            | Total                      |            247.68 | 251.36                   |

Apart from Metro Rail projects, Central Government has launched PM e-Bus Sewa  scheme  with  outlay  of  Rs.  20,000  Cr  for  deployment  of  10,000  air conditioned  e-buses.  Southern  States  viz.  Andhra  Pradesh,  Karnataka  and Telangana participated in the scheme.  However, Tamil Nadu and Kerala did not participate in the scheme.

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