Identification of Critical Factors for Delay in Metro Rail Projects in India

Abstract

Purpose of the study:World over, transportation infrastructure projects face delays in commissioning and India is no exception. This study is carried out with an objective to specifically identify the critical delay factors in the commissioning of metro rail projects in India.
 Methodology: A questionnaire survey was conducted to identify the major causes of delay from the opinion of clients, contractors and consultants. Calculation of Relative Importance Index (RII) for the shortlisted factors yielded the ranking. The ranking by various categories of respondents was analysed using Spearman’s rank coefficient.
 Main Findings:The study concluded in identification of 10 most critical delay-factors from a list of 49 shortlisted factors spread across 7 categories. The identified factors included: (1) Delay in land acquisition and site handover to contractor, (2) Shifting of utilities and contingency works, (3) Scope change, (4)Delay in payments, (5) Effects of unforeseen subsurface and changing ground condition, (6) Shortage of construction materials in the market, (7) Delays in design approvals and decision making, (8) Shortage of labour, (9) Lack of data collection and survey before design, and (10) Delay in obtaining permits from local body.
 Implications: Project management interventions based on the identified critical factors of delay can improve the delivery of upcoming metro rail projects in terms of schedule compliance.
 Applications of this study:The Application of suitable course correction measures targeting the critical factors can result in mitigation of delays.
 Novelty/Originality of this study:The study is one of its kind attempt to investigate all the commissioned metro rail projects in India for analyzing delays in the Indian urban rail sector.

Risk assessment of underground and elevated metro projects from clients' and contractors' perspective

“…It cannot be ignored" (Taroun, 2014). Risks are classified as per their allotment as well as from their source of origin (Mittal and Paul, 2018). The identified and categorized risks have been assessed by various methods in the literature such as Monte-Carlo simulations (Purnus and Bodea, 2014), Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) (Taroun, 2014), vague set theory (Yan et al, 2019), Bayesian Belief Network (Luu et al, 2009) etc.…”

“…Evidently, out of close to 1,200 km of metro lines all over India, 79% are elevated while only 21% are underground. Many of these metro projects have faced severe delays in construction and implementation over the past few years (Mittal and Paul, 2018), similar to many construction projects in other developing countries (Shehu et al, 2014). However, compared with most other construction projects, the time overrun costs of metro projects are significantly higher owing to large amounts of capital investments in metro rail construction.…”

“…Risk analysis was the focus of some past research studies. For instance, extant research Mittal and Paul (2018) and Sarkar and Singh (2019) have analysed and identified the critical risks for metro projects in the context of developing nations, especially India in the case of elevated metro systems. Recent study by Lyu et al (2020) highlighted the risks involved in the Jinan Metro Tunnel Project in China.…”

Factors affecting delays in rail transportation projects using Analytic Network Process: the case of Iran

“…The results also indicated that delays in the provision of necessary materials and financial problems were the main reasons for the delays in this project (Aswathi & Thomas, 2013). Mittal and Paul (2018) also investigated the reasons for delays in the construction of urban railway projects in India.…”

“…Delays in land ownership and delivery of the project site to the contractors, changes in applications and possible requirements, delayed payments, unpredictable underground effects and changes in the ground conditions, raw material shortage in the market, delays in approval of the project design and decision-making, lack of sufficient workforce, lack of adequate data collection and incomplete investigations before implementation, and delays in acquisition of necessary permits were identified as the most important reasons for delays in these projects (Mittal & Paul, 2018).…”