Metro gauge may get isolated

By Sujay Mehdudia

NEW DELHI, AUG. 5. Warning that the Delhi Metro Rail project might get isolated from the mainstream of technological upgradation if immediate review of the decision to adopt ``broad gauge'' instead of the universal practice of ``standard gauge'' was not done, the Delhi Chief Minister, Ms. Sheila Dikshit, has sought the Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Behari Vajapyee's intervention to settle the matter.

In a letter to Mr. Vajpayee over adoption the Chief Minister has pointed out that despite this stand by the Railway Ministry, it was essential in the larger interest of the country and the Metro Project in particular that a review of the decision was done at the earliest. She has stated that in the context of globalisation, the country must keep pace with the rest of the world in technology and this is possible only if the standard gauge is adopted. ``As the Delhi Government is bearing 50 per cent of the cost. I think our request for reconsideration of the decision to adopt broad gauge should be given due consideration,'' she said.

Explaining the sequence of events, she has pointed out that a Group of Ministers (GOMs) at a meeting held on August 4, 2000, had decided to adopt the broad gauge for the Delhi Metro. This decision was however, given on the condition that the Ministry of Railway should have taken full responsibility of any cost and time overruns because of the choice. ``It has been a repeated stand of the Railway Ministry that they would not be able to issue safety certificate for standard gauge as they have no knowledge and experience of standard gauge,'' she has stated.

However, the Chief Minister has, at the same time, pointed to the fact that the Railway Minister concealed the fact that their RDSO at Lucknow has the required expertise in standard gauge and that the Indian Railway engineers had assisted in the commissioning and operation of a standard gauge line of about 500 km in Iraq in the late 80s.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has assessed that adoption of broad gauge would cost a time overrun of nine to 12 months and a cost increase of Rs. 800 to Rs. 900 crores. Moreover, Metro systems the world over have mainly adopted standard gauge and so this latest technology would be expeditiously available. ``You are aware that once the Delhi Metro project is committed to broad gauge, it would get isolated from the mainstream of technological upgradation,'' Ms. Dikshit has stated.

She said that she had already written to the Union Home Minister, Mr. L.K. Advani, on three occasions requesting him to reconvene a meeting of the GOMs for an early clarification. However, the Home Minister has indicated that any reconsideration, and that too without the Railway Ministry wanting it, would not be proper. As the Railway Ministry had opposed the standard gauge, it would not be realistic to expect the Ministry to take any initiative for a review. Moreover, the Railway Ministry has no financial participation in the project nor it is incharge for its operation.

``Keeping in mind these arguments and the need for an early decision, I request your intervention to resolve this issue,'' the letter concluded. In fact, the controversy has already created a delay in commissioning of the project. It is now expected that the Metro project would get delayed by eight months and finally take off sometime in December 2002.

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