Another firm sells monorail concept

Another firm sells monorail concept
Deccan Herald

With Chief Minister H D Kumaaraswamy coming out in support of feeder transport systems for the Bangalore Metro, which he promises will be implemented along with the metro project, monorails are back in the news.

The latest company offering to bring monorail to Bangalore, is Geodesic Techniques, a design and project consultant firm, that is willing to install a complete monorail set-up. This will include route alignment, monorail specifications and project implementation.

In a recent presentation Geodesic made to officials of the Urban Development Department and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, the company proposed setting up monorail routes in the busy business districts of the city. The company has prior experience as project consultant for the monorail system established in Kuala Lampur, and is now supervising monorail construction in Jakarta and Dubai.

The two main routes identified were the core ring road and Majestic-Vidhana Soudha link. Incidentally, the two routes reflect completely different objectives. While the former is targetted at decongesting traffic, the latter aims at connecting tourist spots.

“The monorail is especially convenient in crowded urban areas. Monorail trains made of aluminium are lighter, requiring smaller supporting columns, each occupying less than 2 square metres of ground area. Therefore property acquisition and demolition of buildings are avoided. As prefabricated beams will be installed at night, it has minimal impact on existing roads and traffic,” said Srinidhi Ananthraman, Managing Director, Geodesic. Meanwhile, monorails have been successfully used for boosting tourism, and this can be experimented in the city by routing them close to heritage sites, he added.

However, monorail was not recommended by Ananthraman for connecting the metro depot at Byappanahalli to the upcoming Devanahalli International Airport. “Monorail will be wasted on this route as it will not be utilised to its peak capacity,” he believed. According to him, a railway link or bus system will work better for this network.

Looking at creating a multi-modal transport network for the city, Ananthraman insisted that monorail cannot be a substitute for metrorail. “Metro rail is a time-tested system that have been used successfully in several metros globally. Monorails are a comparatively new concept, that was introduced as extensions to existing metro networks. So it has a good track record of being a feeder system,” Ananthraman explained.

For details, contact Geodesic at 2356 3634.

FEATURES

*Cost factor: Rs 70 crore per km (approx)

*Time factor: 18 months for 10 kms

*Distance factor: 30 kms (Core ring road) and 9 kms (Vidhana Soudha-Majestic link)