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Chandigarh: Has the Metro gone off track?
The project’s cost has soared to an estimated ₹25,000 crore from ₹11,000 crore two years ago — a whopping 127% jump
Chugging at a slow pace for four years since its revival, the Tricity Metro project now appears to have slipped into uncertainty.
Having completed preliminary technical and feasibility studies, the Rail India Technical and Economic Services (RITES) has repeatedly approached the UT administration for approvals needed to move the proposal forward, but has received nothing but silence.
The prolonged lack of response from the administration has raised serious questions about the administration’s intent to pursue the ambitious mass rapid transit system, even as traffic congestion and mobility challenges in the tricity continue to mount.
RITES, a Government of India public sector undertaking under the ministry of railways, has been seeking approval for geo-tagging, preparation of an alternative alignment report, and updated feasibility studies for over a year.
Amid the administration’s indecision, the project’s cost has soared to an estimated ₹25,000 crore from ₹11,000 crore two years ago — a whopping 127% jump.
Under the proposed funding structure, 20% of the project cost is to be borne collectively by Punjab, Haryana, and Chandigarh, another 20% by the Centre, and the remaining 60% through loans from lending agencies.
A senior RITES official said several communications had been sent to the UT administration over the past year, but no response had been received so far. “The Detailed Project Report (DPR) can be prepared only after formal approval is granted for these preliminary studies. Without that, technical work cannot progress,” the official said.
The delay comes against the backdrop of growing resistance within political and administrative circles. Senior officials and leaders, including UT administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, Union minister for housing and urban affairs Manohar Lal Khattar and former MP Kirron Kher, have publicly voiced concerns about the project’s financial viability and impact of Metro construction on Chandigarh’s meticulously planned urban fabric.
The prospect of extensive digging, particularly for underground corridors, has been criticised for potentially damaging road infrastructure, disrupting traffic, and altering the city’s aesthetics and heritage character.
Khattar has also stressed that the projected ridership may not be sufficient to justify the massive investment required for a full-fledged Metro system.
Institutional inertia has further complicated matters. The Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA), tasked with steering the Metro project, has held only three meetings since its conception on April 28, 2023, the last on September 2, 2024.
The Metro was first proposed in 2009 to tackle rising traffic congestion in the tricity. A DPR was prepared in 2012, but ran into multiple hurdles, including opposition from political leaders. In 2017, the Union home ministry formally rejected the proposal, citing insufficient peak-hour ridership projections before 2051.
After years in cold storage, the plan was brought back to life in August 2021 with the commissioning of a fresh Comprehensive Mobility Plan through RITES. Nearly four years later, however, the project remains still stuck in the slow lane, amid persistent doubts over feasibility, finances and political will.
