Bangalore Metro on fast track?

Bangalore Metro on fast track?

Differences of opinion have cropped up between Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited and the Railway Ministry on the choice of gauge.

Deccan Herald

The proposed Bangalore Metro is on a fast track for clearance, but will the Railway Ministry put a brake on it, a la Delhi Metro?

It could well be the situation if the ministry insists that Bangalore Metro should have the broad gauge (BG) system and not standard gauge (SG) as was planned by the Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL) which will implement the Rs 6,000-crore project. The ministry, which gives technical clearance for the Metro, insists that there should be uniformity in its mainlines as well as in urban metro systems in the country.

According to the ministry, with BG, imports can be avoided in rolling stock and hence the foreign exchange outflow. A ministry official told Deccan Herald that coaches can be fully produced within the country and with that the cost of operation and maintenance comes down (BG rails as well as coaches have slightly more width than SG. BG track has 5ft 6 inches width while SG has 4ft 8 inches).

The BMRTL has different point of view and says SG has many advantages over BG. Mainly, the cost of the project will increase by nearly Rs 600 crore if the project has BG as the track for Bangalore. BG needs more property to be acquired because of the larger coach size. The BG coaches weigh two tonnes more than the SG coaches and energy consumed by SG coaches is less.

Congested areas
Said Mr K N Shrivastava, BMRTL Managing Director: “Taking the BG Metro into Bangalore creates complications. Bangalore Metro has to pass through heavily congested areas. The city roads are narrow and have sharp curves as well as right angled bends at junctions. The SG is advantageous since it permits adoption of curves as sharp as 120 metre radius compared to 200 for BG”. According to him, SG and BG use different technologies in many aspects such as signaling, rolling stock, traction system, ticketing etc. “Hence, because of these, inter-running of trains between Metro and the Indian Railway (IR) network is neither technically nor operationally feasible,” the MD stated.

He added: “Gauge is a planning and not a technical parameter and as such does not come within the purview of the railway ministry. Economic considerations alone should dictate planning parameters. Metro systems are stand-alone systems and its safety is proved the world over.

As for import of rolling stock, Bangalore Metro will not depend on import as indigenous manufacturing facilities are available”.

The BMRTL can circumvent the Railway Ministry by bringing the Bangalore Metro under the Mysore Tram Act but the state government does not want to confront the ministry. “I will meet the Railway Board chairman soon and discuss the issue”, Mr Shrivastava said and hoped that the ministry would heed the state proposal.
Delhi Metro Chief E Sreedharan had a bitter battle with the IR authorities over the gauge issue. The father of Delhi Metro was all for SG but the Rail Bhavan mandarins insisted that only BG should be implemented in Delhi Metro.

A murky battle
“It was a murky battle which went on for one and a half years and a Group of Ministers at the Centre had to be created to resolve the row”, said a Dehi Metro official. The IR had the last laugh.

At the last week’s meeting between Chief Minister Dharam Singh and Union Urban Development Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, it was suggested that when the Projects Investment Board discusses the Bangalore Metro issue in about a fortnight, it should also take into consideration the SG issue.
The two leaders are going to meet in Bangalore on January 12 and the SG-BG issue is expected to figure there.