Why was ELRTS dropped, ask experts

Why was ELRTS dropped, ask experts
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: The State Government’s decision to go ahead with the metro rail project is a welcome move. But it is yet to explain why it dropped the Elevated Light Rail Transit System after working on it for eight years from 1994-2002.

Experts say many features of the metro are similar to that of the ELRTS, which was much cheaper, more flexible and had the same passenger carrying capacity as that of metro.

“It was dropped on the spur of the moment and no reason was given,” UB Group’s former Senior Corporate vice-president and former ELRTS Project director L Ranganathan told this website’s newspaper.

In 2002 the S M Krishna Government dropped the project, conceived in 1994, when it was ready for implementation. “It offered the same benefits, better capacity and was fully networked across the entire city,” he said.

The Government had selected a private consortium led by UB Group to implement the project and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (ILFS) had done a detailed study of the project.

Ranganathan said ELRTS was most suitable for the city and the cost was lower compared to the metro. “With sleek, articulated coaches, it requires lesser turning space,” he said. That meant less land acquisition for ELRTS where the turning radius was just 50 metres, whereas for a standard gauge metro it is 120 metres and for a broad gauge one it is 220 metres.

Another expert and former executive director, Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Limited (BMRTL) B S C Rao says the two systems are alike. “In fact, the ELRTS is superior to metro,” he said.

According to him, though the Government has dropped the ELRTS it can make use of some of its features to reduce metro rail costs. “Even now, a majority of ELRTS features can be adopted to reduce metro’s costs and make it more people-friendly,” Rao added.

In the ELRTS, entire systems run on elevated structure, while the metro is partially elevated, partially underground and only 0.62 km on surface. “Except for underground system, which is very costly, the other features of metro are similar to ELRTS,” sources said.

The ELRTS alignment was done after consulting people and also to ensure minimum inconvenience to Bangaloreans. The same system and logic should be followed by metro also, sources added.

That apart, the Karnataka Tramways Bill is also pending before the State Government since 2000.