Delhi Metro Expansion: What MPD-2047 Means for Mobility

Delhi’s proposal to expand its metro network from 416 km to 695 km and develop about 200 km of new cycle tracks is not only an infrastructure target. It is an attempt to address the capital’s wider mobility problem through a combination of mass transit, last-mile connectivity, parking management, pedestrian access and road redesign under the Master Plan for Delhi-2047.

The proposals were discussed at the 11th stakeholder meeting convened by the Delhi Development Authority for MPD-2047. Representatives of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, the Public Works Department, Delhi Traffic Police, the Transport Department, the National Highways Authority of India, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation and other institutions participated in the meeting. The gathering was part of a three-month consultation programme intended to secure stakeholder participation in implementing the master plan.

The scale of the proposed metro expansion is significant. The plan would add 279 km to the network from the level cited in the report. But the proposal also reveals that Delhi’s transport strategy is being framed as a network problem rather than a metro-construction problem alone. The meeting discussed links between different transport modes, access to newly developing urban areas, parking regulation, road bottlenecks, walking infrastructure and accessibility for persons with disabilities.