Calcutta’s Metro project is a true story of a project disaster, when measured

against schedule and budget.

The case lists a number of problems with a project that was relatively modest in
scope (10 miles of track and 17 stations) but ended up costing over $5 billion
dollars and taking 23 years to complete.
The case is enjoyable for students because, using 20/20 hindsight, several of the
problems they encountered seem to be obvious.
It is useful to send students to the internet to research Boston’s “Big Dig” harbor
tunnel project and develop some comparisons and contrasts between that project
(which is also well over budget and behind schedule) and the Calcutta metro
case.
For example, the Big Dig’s final cost is expected to be $14.6 billion and one of
the two tunnels has become leaking!