Building sustainable cities: Push indigenous tech, public transport sector told

New Delhi: Experts from different Metro Rail Corporations on Friday gathered in the national capital for a seminar on building sustainable cities, with Union urban affairs secretary Durga Shankar Mishra urging the public transport sector to promote use of indigenous technology. 

The second UITP (L'Union internationale des transports publics- International Association of Public Transport)  Indian Metro Seminar, organised by the Belgium-based UITP in association with Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was inaugurated at the Metro Bhawan here. 

Durga Shankar Mishra , secretary to Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs and chairman, DMRC, urged the urban public transport systems to promote indigenous technology, the DMRC said in a statement.  

The seminar was attended by high-level officials of Metro Rail Corporations of different cities in the country, representatives from the industry, and experts in urban development. 

Mangu Singh, Managing Director of the DMRC and Mohamed Mezghani, Secretary General of UITP, also addressed the inaugural session of the event. 

The secretary spoke also about I-Metros, a platform launched to facilitate exchange of information, knowledge and best practices in the sector. 

"The I-Metros is the Indian version of CoMET", Mishra was quoted as saying in the statement. Singh emphasised Delhi Metro's journey from its Phase-I to the current state of serving more than 2.8 million commuters a day.

 A rail-based transport system is the most efficient mode of public transport. When it comes to choosing a high capacity and energy-efficient public transport, Metro is certainly given preference, he said. 

Mezghani shared his insights for bettering the performance of high-capacity public transport systems. 

Metro rail networks are capital-intensive, he said, and suggested the urban administrations to come up with innovative funding and financing mechanisms to make them affordable. Mezghani advocated for digitalisation of Metro operations for improving efficiency. 

"The seminar is meant to provide a platform for stakeholders of public transport across the country to exchange ideas and share knowledge to enhance efficiency of the public transport systems, especially the Metro rail networks in various cities," the DMRC said.