Metro Rail, NaMo Bharat trains catalysts for urban transformation in India: FM Sitharaman

New Delhi: Rapid urbanisation is taking place in the country, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Thursday and asserted that Metro Rail and NaMo Bharat trains can be catalysts for the required urban transformation.

Read the full budget speech here

Presenting the interim Budget 2024-25, Sitharaman said expansion of these systems will be supported in large cities focusing on transit-oriented development.

In October last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off the country’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS). It was named the NaMo Bharat train.

"We have a fast-expanding middle class and rapid urbanisation is taking place," Sitharaman said.

According to the Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry, one crore passengers are riding Metro systems per day in the country.

The operational length of Metro systems in the country is over 895 kilometres in about 20 cities and about 986 kilometres are under construction in various cities.

Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Singh Puri recently said India was well on its way to having the second-largest Metro network in the world.

The 17-km-long priority section of the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS (NaMo Bharat) corridor is currently operational.

The next 25-km stretch of the RRTS corridor from Ghaziabad's Duhai Depot to Meerut South is likely to be opened in two months.

The government will implement three major economic railway corridor programmes and convert 40,000 normal railway coaches to Vande Bharat standard, the minister said.

According to her, while railway corridors will improve logistics efficiency and reduce cost, the conversion of coaches will enhance the safety, convenience and comfort of passengers.