Why are Indians shunning the country’s shiny new metro lines?

WHEN NARENDRA MODI became India’s prime minister in 2014, the country’s entire metro-rail network spanned 229km (142 miles) in four-and-a-half cities: Bangalore, Delhi, Gurgaon (a satellite of Delhi), Kolkata and Mumbai. That amounted to less than half the length of Shanghai’s metro at the time. Yet Mr Modi’s government has since presided over a massive metro-rail expansion. By last April India’s network covered 870km in 18 cities.

Another 1,000km or so of metro track is under construction in 27 cities. Just under 6km of new track is being commissioned every month. Navi Mumbai, a satellite of Mumbai, became the latest city to boast a metro when its first line opened in November. Yet although the speed and scale of India’s metro build-out over the past decade have been impressive, the associated passenger figures are dismal.