DELHI (Metro Rail News): Master Plan for Delhi (MPD) 2047 was announced by the Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Shri Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday (21st August). This report proposed plans to develop Delhi’s urban infrastructure, mobility plans, and sustainability proposals. In the urban mobility sector, the plan to add 279 km of network to Delhi Metro and 6 new RRTS networks among several other announcements.

Delhi’s population is currently estimated at 2.40 crores which is expected to rise to 3.20 crores by 2047. The masterplan therefore focuses on solutions to reduce congestion and traffic in the city to foster better accommodation and connectivity for expected 80 lakh new citizens. 

In this analysis we will assess the proposed developments on the urban mobility front with a detailed overview of projects around metro, RRTS, Transit Oriented Development (TOD), Multi-Modal Transport Hubs (MMTH) and all the major urban mobility announcements from the MPD 2047. 

Delhi Metro: 695 km Metro Network by 2047

Delhi Metro is projected to expand its network from the present 416 km to 695 km by 2047. This will add a total of 279 km of metro network fostering last-mile connectivity and expanding metro network to different corners of the city and the satellite cities in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana.

The present network of Delhi Metro is 416 km (including the Rapid Rail to Cyber City and Noida Metro). The implementation of Phase IV and Phase V(A) are currently under construction while Phase V (B) is announced. The expansion will improve the connection across Delhi. Along with that, the idea for a 24-hour metro was also put forward to bring metro connectivity at all the time of the day.

7 RRTS & 3 HSR Redefining Mobility

Regional Rapid Transit Systems (RRTS) and High-Speed Rail (HSR) are going to transform regional connectivity and redefine mobility across the country. The centre of this change will be Delhi and the NCR area. In the MPD, Delhi is projected to expand its RRTS network to 7 lines with six new lines to be constructed by 2047. Further, three High-Speed Rail networks are also mentioned in the plan.

Further, the MPD 2047 mentions three HSR routes connecting Delhi with three major cities. These routes are:

• Delhi to Varanasi
• Delhi to Ahmedabad
• Delhi to Amritshar/Chandigarh

Transit Oriented Development (TOD)

Transit Oriented Development (TOD) means constructing commercial and residential infrastructure around the metro corridors and RRTS networks, and stations. The motive of TOD is to align development with a mobility friendly infrastructure. Further, TOD can become a major source of non-fare box revenue for Metro and RRTS systems contributing to their financial sustainability. 

The MPD 2047 plan focuses on TOD for the development of Delhi over the next two decades. Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has been appointed to implement the TOD plan across the city. Upon implementation, this will ease out travelling and also provide solutions for the city’s congestion and traffic problem. The plan also laid out regulation on the area and other requirements of the TOD Zones.

The plan is depicted through the image given below:

The TOD plan will rebuild the Metro systems and the RRTS as a commutation friendly zone. This zone will attract higher mobility across the corridor and unlock new opportunities for the whole economy. It will establish the Metro and RRTS stations as a commercial hub. Moreover, it will make use of the unutilized spaces around the corridor for commercial and residential requirements, making optimum utilization of land.

Multi-Modal Transport Hub (MMTH)

The plan proposes to develop three Multi-Modal Transport Hubs (MMTH) to improve connectivity among different modes of transport in Delhi. These MMTH are:

These places will become a major hub connecting Railway, Metro, RRTS, ISBT, HSR and other public transport modes. Given the strategic significance, they will become a hub of economic and commercial activities. 

Also Read: India on the Move: Revisiting the milestones in Railway, Metro & RRTS on the 80th Independence Day