Rail systems may bring some respite to harried commuters

Rail systems may bring some respite to harried commuters

The Hindu

The city's proposed mass rapid system is set to tread a different path

# BMRC likely to be entrusted with supervision of Mono Rail
# Government sees Mono Rail and Metro Rail as being complementary to one another
# Metro Rail will be inaugurated on June 24
# It is being taken up at a cost of Rs. 6,300 crore


BANGALORE: With both the Metro Rail and Mono Rail systems on the city's agenda, the harried Bangaloreans might just find some respite from the endless transportation woes. The endless traffic jams, a common sight today, might just get less chaotic.

That Bangalore needs a mass rapid transport system has never been lost sight of. After toying with ELRTS (Elevated Light Rail Transport System) for several years, the city has come around to choose Metro Rail.

Inspired in many respects by Delhi's Metro Rail, Bangalore's proposed mass rapid system is set to tread a different path, if the thinking of the Government holds ground. It will have feeder Mono Rail network — to begin with from Kanakapura Road to the city centre.

The Government is said to be keen on entrusting the supervision of the implementation of the Mono Rail system to the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRC), thereby ensuring that the two systems go hand in hand in bringing relief to the traffic-hit city.

Not long ago, the promoters of Mono Rail and Metro Rail were at loggerheads as they saw one another as competitors.

That is no longer the case. With the Government seeing them as complementary to one another, there is talk of providing inter-change stations where people can change from one system to another.

A complete picture of how the city's traffic landscape will look like is expected to emerge within the next few months.

The city, whose population doubled in the last two decades and where the number of vehicles has grown over eight times, has long realised what it needs. (Bangalore had 3.3 lakh vehicles in 1986 and official estimates suggest that the number crossed 26.5 lakh at the end of May this year.

Driving speed has also come down to 10 km to 12 km an hour (so says Japan Bank for International Cooperation) in the city.

According to the BMRC, Metro Rail will transport over 10.7 lakh people a day when it becomes operational. It is planning to build a 33-km rail network in five years.

The project will be inaugurated on June 24. Metro Rail is being taken up at a cost of Rs. 6,300 crore.

Metrail India Pvt. Ltd. (MIPL), one of the promoters of monorail, has claimed that it can transport 15,000 people per hour in each direction over two alignments — north-south and east-west. It offers to put the Mono Rail on track in 15 months, without the Government investing any money. But Geodesic Techniques Pvt. Ltd., consultants for MIPL's competitor, Hitachi, says it is not viable for any private player to invest fully in a monorail system, without charging its commuters heavily. It will become unaffordable for most Bangaloreans, its spokesperson suggests.

As far as Metro Rail is concerned, it will have 33 stations in two alignments. The BMRC is acquiring 621 pieces of property for laying the tracks and building stations.

This includes 150 pieces of property on Kuvempu Road and 55 on CMH Road. The BMRC has promised an attractive rehabilitation package but is yet to announce it. Traders on CMH Road have sought that the alignment of the tracks should be changed so that the road is spared.

It could go along Old Madras Road, they have suggested.