New Delhi, Feb 1 (IANS): Emphasising on better connectivity in urban areas, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the Centre would work towards raising the share of public transport in urban areas through the expansion of metro rail networks and also announced two new technologies -- Metrolite and MetroNeo for Tier 2 cities.

She said, "A total of 702 km of conventional metro is operational and another 1,016 km of metro and RRTS (Rapid Regional Transport System) is under construction in 27 cities."

She also announced two new technologies -- MetroLite and MetroNeo that will be deployed to provide metro rail systems at a much lesser cost in Tier 2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier 1 cities.

"Two new technologies 'MetroLite' and 'MetroNeo' will be deployed to provide metro rail systems at much lesser cost with same experience, convenience and safety in Tier-2 cities and peripheral areas of Tier-1 cities," she said.

She said that the Centre counterpart funding will be provided to the Kochi Metro Railway Phase-II of 11.5 km at a cost of Rs 1957.05 crore, to Chennai Metro Railway Phase-II of 118.9 km at a cost of Rs 63,246 crore, Bengaluru Metro Railway Project Phase 2A and 2B of 58.19 km at a cost of Rs 14,788 crore respectively.

Also, it will be extended to Nagpur Metro Rail Project Phase-II and Nashik Metro at a cost of Rs 5,976 crore and Rs 2,092 crore respectively.