To increase ridership in metro rail network there is a need to develop a comprehensive mobility plan not only for the primary transport system but also for the secondary and tertiary system for first and last-mile connectivity and, therefore, the need for setting up of a unified metropolitan transport authority.

The announcement of "metro light" system for Tier 2 & 3 cities is a very positive move as we can now bring a variety of solutions to the 60 cities on the list, points out Mangal Dev, Head Hitachi Rail Systems, India & South East Asia.

India is investing heavily to scale up the current legacy systems to the new generation technologies, whether it is digitalisation initiatives, TCAS or ETCS or the CBTC-based technologies.

In India, the urban rail network has grown significantly over the past 10-12 years, from about 90 km in 2006 to 444 km as we speak.

Similar to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), Kolkata to have driverless trains on the upcoming metro lines, including the East-West corridor for which some of the rakes have arrived.

Kochi Metro is the first Indian metro to have communication-based train control (CBTC) signalling system. Our trains are unattended train operation (UTO) compatible.

Mangal Dev, Head of Hitachi Rail Systems Co, India & South Asia Region feels that inadequate attention to planning, availability of funding and the need to expand the availability of skilled manpower are key challenges facing the metro rail projects in India.

It is often pointed out that every rupee invested in ramping up railway infrastructure benefits the economy six times over. Therefore, after languishing for nearly 70 years, modernisation of the sector has been put on the fast track.

When the construction work of the Metro was started in Kolkata and later in Delhi, Indian engineers did not have the required experience to execute projects of such mammoth proportions. For the Delhi Metro, we had hired a consortium of foreign engineers who had supervised our first phase of construction