'The Metro Alone Cannot Solve All Traffic Problems Of Indian cities'

When Delhi Metro Rail Corporation managing director Mangu Singh was growing up in Najibabad, Uttar Pradesh, he walked ten kilometres to school and back daily. Now, he runs a high-tech mass-transit system in Delhi which every city wants and some, like Kochi, Agra and Jaipur, are getting or already have. In an interview with Pragya Singh, he talks about self-appraisal and the nitty-gritty of managing an engineering-led enterprise. Excerpts:

Why would engineers want to work for a concern like DMRC?

Because we’re in the national capital, we’re running one of the most modern operations and we serve 28 lakh daily commuters. Just this last gives me tremendous satisfaction. The mantra we follow also has appeal. We believe in punctuality, integrity, competence and good health. All of us get copies of the Bhagwad Gita, we do yoga and meditation. But the core of our belief is passenger service.

The metro is seen as a technological marvel that offers dignified travel. What else has it achieved?

Inculcating value for time is the biggest contribution of the Delhi Metro. It also brought a sense of discipline to Delhi that was not there before. Earlier, it was unthinkable that you could go from Delhi University to Saket, then to Noida, in a day. Also, areas such as Chawri Bazaar or Chandni Chowk were slipping economically and socially. Now, you see more activity there only because of the Metro. Many people fond of visiting these parts had stopped because of lack of access. Now, they have restarted. Since the 1990s, MNCs would relocate to Gurgaon and Noida, so even Rajiv Chowk was dying until the Metro came. The Metro is a great equaliser, even of rentals and property prices.

With all the technology at our disposal, is it still not affordable to build metros everywhere?

Affordability is determined as a whole, at the national level. The Delhi Metro is largely run on borrowed money. The question is whether you can borrow that much—it’s not just a question of viability but of whether you can repeat the Delhi system everywhere, taking such huge loans.

Is there lots of office work at an engineering company? How much time do you get in the field?

The nature of this profession is field-led. Even when sitting here, I feel I am on the field. I can ‘see’ everything in my mind as if before my eyes. At least once a week, I visit sites. I go outside Delhi, where we have a number of projects, once or twice a month.

What should young people do to succeed?

Our educational scenario is not such that a young person can simply choose a career. In most fields, it is what you get that determines where you end up. One may want to be in IIT or be a computer engineer, but that is not in one’s hands alone. It depends, ultimately, on the rank one gets. My suggestion is, whatever you get—your final coordinates—be into that, be 100 per cent committed.

Okay, is that a sad commentary on our education system? How can people succeed if they can’t pursue interests?

To be successful, competence is most important. This will need knowledge. But your engineering or management degree is your minimum qualification. It is not enough. There are so many other things—attitude, commitment.

It seems a lot happens in engineering-led firms that degrees don’t help with. Does luck matter?

I won’t say luck, but opportunities matter. I have had many opportunities and so am able to make good on them.

How does a professional know he is on the right track?

One has to evaluate himself. No third person can evaluate whether you are competent or not. Then knowledge, which is easy to acquire these days, not so 20 or 30 years back. I examine myself—like in a game of chess, I try thinking four or five steps ahead.

DMRC once paid IIT to train engineers. Is something like that still on?

We closed that project in favour of in-house training. Skills like tunnelling are so specialised that even IIT couldn’t do much for us. Now we are neither short of engineers nor quality.

Why does everybody want a metro so urgently?

I think because other modes of transport have not kept pace with the Metro. People don’t really care whether they travel by metro or by bus. What they need is public transport. If they don’t have any option they end up asking for the metro. That’s what we see with feeder buses. Wherever there is no bus facility people demand metro feeder buses.

Does every Indian city require a metro?

Any city with over 20 lakh population will need proper public transport. Most of our cities are congested, we lack road space, so road-based solutions, particularly in the heart of cities, are impossible. We need high-capacity systems but it’s another matter whether we can afford it.

The number of buses in Delhi is going down—will the Metro carry all?

The Metro is still under development. Phase III and Phase IV are yet to be completed. We are carrying more traffic than we planned in the first two phases. That is why a mid-term correction is necessary now. In the next two phases as well, the traffic we will carry will be much more than anticipated. We are only 18 years old so we can’t be expected to carry all of Delhi’s traffic. The Metro alone cannot solve all traffic problems. There has to be an integrated system where other modes complement the Metro. Every day we get at least ten letters asking us to connect this village or that locality, but we know the Metro cannot be everywhere.

Has there ever been a locality that said, ‘Please don’t bring the Metro here’.

(Laughs). No, not localities, but few individuals in some areas have asked us to change alignment, to avoid inconveniences of construction. The New Delhi Traders Association raised objections against the Metro at Rajiv Chowk. After completion, they came and thanked us for it.

Will DMRC shares ever be listed?

It will be very difficult for DMRC to be positive on its books. Who will buy our shares, if we don’t have a profit? This is not something we plan to do.

So your sole independent source of revenue is tickets? A fare revision is on the cards....

A committee has been set up and we have to wait three months for its decision. We are very hopeful about a revision, as every previous Fare Fixation Committee has considered our financial position and allowed an increase.

Healthy young people crowd the Metro’s disabled-friendly lifts. Are conditions in India not daunting?

It is really difficult. But we were conscious of these from the beginning. When we studied metro systems worldwide, none other was working in such extreme temperatures, crowding, etc as was our conditions. Therefore, we went for our own specifications. Our lifts and escalators are meant to cater to the crowds we see. You are right, when we started the lifts, they were not for everybody. They were for the aged and disabled, but now all use them.

The fourth phase estimate is currently Rs 50,000 crore in the NCR. Would JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) fund it?

To JICA, what matters most is whether the benefits of a project [it funds] come in or not. When they would compare [us] with many other projects in the country, where money is simply sunk, where people are not getting benefits, those projects are not good as far as JICA’s performance is concerned. They are, therefore, happy with the Delhi Metro.

Why is the labour class not visible in metros? Can a two-tier fare system make India’s most prominent technology symbol more inclusive?

Normally, that system [two-tier fares] is not practised anywhere. In any case, our fares are so low. On the Metro, naturally, the most mobile section—the middle classes—are most visible. However, at Rs 40 daily, the monthly metro fare adds up to Rs 1,000. Even the poor can afford this.

What is happening with the airport express? That is a cost the DMRC is bearing.

Right now we are running the line. We have come to a situation where there’s no operational loss. The question is only of payment, which the arbitrator will decide. The ultimate question is, why is such a project not viable for private players? For them, finance comes at very high rates. If we constructed this line, we would have got a JICA loan at 1.3 per cent while a private player brings [money] at 14 or 15 per cent. The heavy interest burden would be one major factor.

Does it say something about public private partnership viability?

The airport line was one of the best examples of public-private partnership. A 22-km line, with 16 km underground, done in 3.5 years is unprecedented. This could happen mainly because all works involving risk, such as tunnel construction, viaducts etc, was done by DMRC. The private player would not have done it. I am 100 per cent sure no private player could have convinced green authorities to allow taking the line from below the ridge [forest]. It is only DMRC—we convinced the green authorities. So, from execution point of view this project is very good. The only thing is, particularly with very high cost of finance, you can’t expect such projects will be profitable from day one.

If Terminal 1 traffic moved to Terminal 3, would financial performance improve?

It is another setback that T1 is not going to be shifted. The airport line was conceived with the idea that entire operations would move to T3. Air passengers likely to use public transport are the ones who go to T1, so we lose those.