Metro and Mono to co-exist

Metro and Mono to co-exist
Vijay Times

With Chief Minister H D K umaraswamy approving the 18-km stretch of mono rail as a pilot project in principle, the City’s dreams of having a mix of the flexible mono rail mode of transport with a high carriage capacity metro rail has come a step closer to reality .

The mono rail pilot project running from Kanakapura to Majestic bus station is a run-up to transport pundits’ advocacy of having a backbone rail line based on the metro rail concept with mono rail providing feeder connectivity to ensure most of Bangalore being covered.

Pro-mono rail transport engineers and experts have since long been pointing out that for a radial city like Bangalore mono rail would be best suited. On the other hand, its critics capitalised on its limited carrying capacity and pressed for the metro rail.

But now , Kumaraswamy’s announcement that the construction of the mono rail pilot project will commence on August 15 to have the system ready within a year , and that of advancing the November scheduled construction of metro rail to September has made meeting Bangalore’s mass transport needs more optimistic.

With just one stretch and one alignment involved in the mono rail pilot project, there would be only one developer to be selected. That may be done through a tendering process in case there is more than one entity vying for the project.

Presently , MetRail India Private Limited is the only player that has actively pursued the go vernment for developing the mono rail in Bangalore. The company’s executives are confident of bagging the contract with their competitive pricing. However , the State government has yet to work out modalities and cost for the 18-km stretch pilot project.

What is a mono rail?

Mono rail is a series of lightweight carriages made of carbon fibre moving over a single arm of track layered with concrete. The carriages move on rubber wheels with two arms from the side clutching the undersides of the concrete track. The mono rail is powered by solar energy , batteries and hybrid generator sets.

The elevated girders fo supporting the track are pre-cast, pre-stressed and readied off site before being shifted to predetermined locations overnight with no obstruction to the vehicular movements.

The girders will be placed on the road median, enabling the elevated platforms running over the roads even as vehicles ply beneath it.

Metro Rail by 2011

The Bangalore metro rail project will divide the city into roughly four segments, and is expected to be completed by March 2011.

The first train is expected to start plying from October 2009 along the Mysore Road Byappanahalli arm of the project that would be developed by Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation, a state-centre joint venture.