City needs suburban rail system

City needs suburban rail system
Vijay Times

MAHESH Kumar, the Divisional Railway Manager of Bangalore Division, might not have stayed in Bangalore for a long time. But, his love for the City is as good as that Bangalorean.

The senior railway officer, who is credited with h ing given the Bangalore City Railway station a new look, spoke about what he thought were the most se ous problems plaguing the City.

Admitting his love for Bangalore rather candidly, the soft-spoken man gave suggestions on how to overcome these problems and improve the situation in the City. Mahesh, who is known for his straight-tothe-point way of talking, spoke about several issues.

The words, it seemed, were not from his mouth but straight from his heart.

I came to Bangalore in 2003 on being posted as Divisional Railway Manager, Bangalore Division. I have been here earlier too on many occasions and I love the City.

Bangalore was earlier known for its weather, green cover, excellent law and order situation, cosmopolitan nature and peace-loving people. It also had strong cultural heritage.

The noteworthy changes that have made Bangalore famous all over the world include its transformati into an IT City and the strides it has been making the sectors of biotechnology, medical tourism textiles. There has been a large influx of migran ulation from all over the country and even abroad.

The growth of IT and other industries has led to a situation where modern office and residential complexes, apart from shopping malls, resorts and hot are now available. The night life here can be comp with the best cities in the world.

However, the depletion of green cover, traffic con gestion, unplanned growth of buildings and the ris cost of living have made life difficult for the co man. Everything comes at a cost. Bangalore too h proved this point.

In my opinion, substantial improvement in transport, an effective mass rapid transport system and suburban rail system similar to the one in Mumbai a few things that the City needs. The process of c structing an international airport needs to be exp ed as Bangalore now has the third largest air traf India.

Roads need to be widened and peripheral residential / commercial complexes need to be developed.

By developing peripheral centres, people can come upto a point in their own vehicles. They can then their vehicles there and then travel inside the ce business district using the Mass Rapid Trans which is also called the Park-and-Ride syste some countries.

While there is no quick fire solution to make the more livable, the single most important thing that need to do is to improve the transport infrastruct As stated above, this would include widening roads, more flyovers, elimination of rail / road c ings, quick implementation of the Mass Rapid Transportation System, ban on movement of private vehicles in Central Business Districts, Subur Railway System, integration of rail and road trans and underground / multi-storeyed parking.

The major real estate developers can be asked to share the costs incurred in constructing flyovers rail/road under and over bridges. The need o hour is to undertake comprehensive area wise planning with earmarked funds to check unplanned growth.

Students from all over the country used to come to the City, which was known for its excellent educa tional institutions. This used to strengthen the i of Bangalore as a cosmopolitan City.

However, in recent times, there has been confusion over admission procedures. There is a need for pr er guidelines to eliminate the confusion, which no prevails in the student community.