Owais Mughal
Last month there have been several news items about the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) Rail project. We have tried to gather key information from many of these news items and will present it in the following as one concise post on the topic.
The proposed rail service is the main part of the Lahore Mass Transit System (LRMTS). Other components of this project include the now under construction Lahore Ring Road Project.
The Photo above shows the Route Map of LRMT Phase I - Green Line
The LRMT is a Two-phase, 97 kilometes long project. A Hong Kong based company called MVA Asia Consultancy was hired the government of Punjab as consultants to prepare the project feasibility. The study of MVA Asia Consultancy completed 5% of project design and proposed four Rail lines in the city to share the traffic burden. The proposed capacity of LRMT is going to be able to move 35000 passengers per hour in the city. Funding for the project will be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
PHASE I:
In Phase-I two tracks will be constructed. One will be a North-South route called the Green Line and other will be a East-West route called the Orange Line.
Green Line:
Green Line is going to cost US $2.4 billion to construct.
The Green Line would extend from Shahdara to Hamza Town via Ravi Road, Lower Mall, Mall Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Qartaba Chowk and Ferozepur Road areas.
The Photo above shows the Route Map of LRMT Phase I - Green Line
The length of Green Line is going to be 27 km. 11.6 km long Green Line route would be underground, while 15.4 km long would be overhead.
There will be 12 underground and 10 overhead stations built on the Green Line route.
The completion dates of ‘Green Line’ is in 2011. Initially the project was supposed to finish in 2012 but due to Cricket World Cup od 2012 wher Lahore will be hosting few matches, the Green Line completion date has been pulled in to 2011. Initial estimates are that 227,000 people annually would benefit from the Green line.
In March 2007, Punjab Government invited Dr E. Sreedharan who is the managing director of successfully operating Delhi Metro Rail. After studying the project details Dr Sreedharan has declared Green Line Project as a viable one. He has inspected the first priority line’s route from Shahdara to Hamza Town. In his view, the implementation of the Green Line project (Phase I) would face no major technical difficulty because the soil condition en route was good and roads were wide, having room for underground construction without creating any serious inconvenience to the city.
Orange Line:
Orange Line is going to cost US $1.9 billion.
Its route would extend from Pakistan Mint to Sabzazar via Shahnur, Awan Town, Hinjarwal, Niaz Beg, Canal View, Wahdat Road, Ali Town, Salahuddin Road, Bund Road, Islam Park, Dera Gujjran Depot, Mahmood Booti, Salamatpura, Samanabad, Gulshan Ravi, Chauburji, Lake Road, Lakshami Chowk, Railway Station, Sultanpura, UET, Baghbanpura and Shalimar Garden areas.
The length of Orange Line would also be 27-km out of which, 6.9 km long tracks would be underground, while 20.2 km-long would be overhead upon which six underground and 20 overhead stations would be established.
The central interchange station of Green and Orange lines would also be established besides linking these lines at Ring Road, railway station, airport, and Sports City.
The completion dates of ‘Orange Line’ is in 2015. Initial estimates are that 245,000 people annually would benefit from the Orange Train.
PHASE II:
The completion year for phase II is 2020.
In Phase-II, two more tracks will be laid out. These routes will be called Blue Line and Purple Line.
Blue Line:
The route length of blue line is going to be 24 km. The ‘Blue Line’ will start from Chauburji and end at College Road, sources said, adding that from Chauburji the line would pass through Mozang Chungi, Shadman Chowk, Jail Road, Mian Boulevard Gulberg, Mian Boulevard Garden Town, Faisal Town and end at College Road.
Purple Line:
The route length of Purple line is going to be 19 km. Purple line would start from Bhaati Chowk and end at Allama Iqbal International Airport. The line would pass through Bhaati Chowk, Brandreth Road, Railway Station, Allama Iqbal Road, Dharampura, Ghazi Road and end at Allama Iqbal International Airport
The Train Capacity:
One unit of air-conditioned train will have the seating capacity of 500 passengers.
Stations:
Train stations on the elevated route would be designed like overhead bridges while train stations on the underground route would have two entranceways and two exits.
Environmental Concerns?
Just like with every Mega project, voices of dissent have started appearing for the project where people have shown concern for environment and noise levels of elevated trains. Dawn’s editorial on Jult 12, 2007 covers these voices very concisely and I’ll quite the editorial here:
The first two lines will cost $3.3 billion. In real terms, the cost of the project is yet to be worked out. Surely, notes of dissent are expected to start pouring in. The economists are going to question the heavy debt the project will incur for the government and the citizens, while the opposition politicians are most definitely going to give their own colour to these lines and the sabza group may soon be out to enumerate the effects of this development on Lahore’s environment. Some of these points may be very valid and should elicit a thoughtful response from the government. There can be no moving ahead without this exercise. The sooner this essential exercise is carried out the better it would be for everyone.
Noise: I couldn’t find the details on expected noise levels around elevated portions of the track but noise is definitely going to travel far and away if sound barriers are not constructed around the tracks. More than normal decibels of noise are already witnessed around Pakistan Railway’s elevated track which runs from Lahore Station to Badami Bagh.
Previous Light Rail Studies or Projects:
The current project is definitely not the first attempt to build a rail based mass transit for Lahore. In 1991 during Nawaz Sharif’s termas prime minister, the feasibility of a light rail transit system was determined by Japanese development organisation (JICA). It had proposed a 13 kilometre long system. The study was reviewed and updated as part of the World Bank funded “Lahore traffic and transport studies” in 1993.
The system’s cost was estimated at about US $400 million, but with better network coverage. In 1995 Japan proposed financing the original scheme with grants and loans of about US $495 million, but the project could not be implemented due to many reasons.
Fares: Back in July 2007, it was reported in Daily Times that Passengers of the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) would be charged Rs 125 to Rs 140 to travel from one end to the other of the 27 kilometre-long Green Line.
“Sources associated with the project told Daily Times on Thursday that this (Rs 125-Rs 140) one-side fare had been calculated after taking into account the rendered $2.5 billion cost of the project, which is expected to be completed by 2011. Sources said that to pay back the loan likely to be incurred on the LRMT project, the government would have to charge high fares from the passengers. Currently, the public transport fare from Kahna to Shahdara is between Rs 20 to 25. By 2011, it would rise between Rs 25 and Rs 30. They said that to charge a passenger of the LRMT Rs 30 for a one-side visit, the government would have to give a subsidy of at least Rs 100 per person, which was not possible for the government.
While Rs 140 one way fare indeed looks ridiculous right now, passengers may end up paying much more than road transport. The benefiit however will be ease of travel, no traffic jams and hopefully a strict adherence to time table.
Hope: Many years ago I took a course in Engineering Economics. I still remember one sentence from my text book. It read as:
“All mega projects should be built as soon as possible after their design is done and funding is secured otherwise opposition to the project grows on POLITICAL basis.”
When we look around the mega projects of Pakistan, it appears so true. If big projecs are not started quickly they never will because somebody will always find a reason to do politics on the issue. In the end we sincerely hope the project sees the light of the day and does not end like the one in works for Karachi (called KMTP/KCR) for the past 33 years. Lets all hope for the best and we will continue to add updates on this project in the comments section below.
References
(1) Metroblogging Lahore
(2) Dawn Editorial of July 12, 2007 here.
(3) The News, February 26, 2006 here.
(4) MVA Consultancy
(5) Business Recorder Edition of June 10, 2007
(6) The Daily Times Edition of March 14, 2006
(7) ZeeNews edition of March 5, 2007
(8) Lahore Signs Light Rail MoU: September 1, 2002.
(9) Daily Times Edition of July 7, 2007
Some minor clarifications/corrections
Clarification:
Union govt = central/federal govt.
Correction:
When I referred to the other cities, I said that part of the funds are coming from lending organizations like the JBIC/ADB etc. and the rest by the state government. Actually I meant that the rest is being shared by the central (federal) and state governments in equal proportion.
Aqil:
DMRC is earning revenues through commercial development. It has tendered out advertising rights inside trains, on the platform and other station venues and also by awarding concessions for running restaurants and coffee/tea shops. Another source of revenue is from mobile companies. Even the underground sections of the metro have a mobile signal and this is achieved by installing repeaters on the metro route that the mobile companies pay DMRC for. Besides this, DMRC is earning revenues through property development. They are constructing an IT park in the area adjacent to one station and a residential development above a coach depot.
As to funding, 60% of the project cost is borne by the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC). It is a subsidized loan, with a 10 year moratorium on payments. 15% of the cost is borne by the union Govt. (mostly as cash) and 15% by the Govt. of Delhi (partly as cash and partly as land transferred to DMRC for building its facilities). The rest is generated by DMRC through property development (and is in fact an indirect subsidy from the Govt. of Delhi, since it has provided high value land to DMRC for use for property development).
Now there are metros under construction or being planned in various cities of India - Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kochi, Ahmedabad and Kolkata - and a similar pattern of financing is being used/planned there as well. Typically a concessional loan from JBIC/World Bank/Asian Development Bank or a similar agency covering 50-60% of the cost and the rest being shared by state Governments. Mumbai is using a different model, where the state and central governments share a viability gap financing to a private developer, who invests the rest of the funds. One line has already been contracted out to Anil Ambani’s company by this route, and more lines are under the process of being tendered. This works in Mumbai since it is a city with high public transit usage - making the metro profitable for private developers (with some viability gap financing by the Government). Even in Mumbai, the fares are regulated though - Line 1 of the metro will have a typical fare of Rs. 10 for a 10 km distance.
I hope this answers your questions.
Sridhar:
Thanks for sharing all this info about the Dehli subway. One more question: is any amount being earned through advertizing boards and shops at the stations?
Also, who exactly paid for the project? The federal or the city govt?
A minor correction to my earlier post.
The fare for the feeder buses for the metro is Rs. 5 for a distance upto 8 kms and Rs. 8 for a distance greater than 8 kms. Most commuters using feeder services will travel less than 8 kms on the metro. Thus, the total fare for commuting within the city of Delhi is likely to be a maximum of Rs. 38 currently (if one uses the maximum distance on the metro @ Rs. 22 and feeder buses for greater than 8 kms on both ends @ Rs 8 each). The average commuter will of course pay less than this.
Aik zamanay main hum tum gaey thay rawalpindi 140 rupay main…yaad hai na?
The 35000 capacity figure mentioned is what is termed a ‘passenger per direction per hour” figure. This is the theoretical maximum that the system can carry on any one line in a single direction per hour. It is a function of the capacity of the coaches used, the number of coaches per rake and the minimum headway between trains. It does not suggest that 35000 people will necessarily travel in any direction in the system during any period of time.
Its the need of the hour to build such a rail system. Modern cities can’t do without one. Having lived in Chicago and London, one increasingly feels the need for such systems. Such systems have already been built in other developing countries such as Malaysia and India. How have we managed to do without one, simply beats me.
As for the fares, I would like to say that even though the fares would be high for the middle and lower middle classes, but with them their incomes would rise enough to meet the costs. Meantime those can afford, should not be denied the opportunity to travel by trains. The middle and lower middle classes didn’t start using the London Underground system the day it was born, in 1863. Yet with time and with rising standards of living even people belonging to lower classes started using it. Today even the ones on Benefits use it. So with time the same would happen in Pakistan as well.
Mubarik:
The reason why I am concerned about fairs and cost recovery is that there is already a strong feeling in smaller provinces and Southern Punjab that certain parts of the country get more govt attention at their expense. If the transport system is being made for the comfort of Lahoris, then will the Lahoris pay for it, or will people from other, more backward parts of the country be made to sacrifice on their due share of development budget for it?
If the Lahore city govt takes up the whole debt for the project and the people of Lahore do pay for it one way or another, then obviously, it would be a project for everyone to celebrate.