Monorail does not find favour with Metro man

Monorail does not find favour with Metro man


Express News Service First Published : 12 Sep 2009 03:19:25 AM ISTLast Updated : 12 Sep 2009 10:35:01 AM IST
BANGALORE: Bangalore’s decision to chose metro rail over monorail for the Namma Metro project was given a big thumbs up by none other than Delhi’s Metro man, E Sreedharan, here on Friday.
“You cannot compare the metro rail and the monorail. The capacity of a monorail is only one-third of a metro and the cost is as much. So I don’t think it is of any good for mass movement of people,” said the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Limited (DMRC) chief, Sreedharan, while interacting with reporters after receiving the first standard gauge metro cars for the DMRC.
“A monorail is alright for religious places or an entertainment centre, but not for mass movement of people,’’ he added.
The monorail project, which had been put on the backburner after the metro project was finalised, was recently taken up again for discussion by the Agenda for Bangalore Infrastructure Development (ABIDe) task force. Earlier, experts had debated between the metro and the monorail.
Now that the metro has been finalised, the monorail has been proposed as feeder to it. A private firm has submitted a proposal for three monorail lines totaling 61.5 km. A decision on the proposal is awaited.
The proposed routes are: Hebbal to J P Nagar along the western portion of the Outer Ring Road, Peripheral Ring Road to Toll Gate along Magdi Road, Kathriguppe to National College and Hosur Road, and Bannerghatta Rd Junction to Peripheral Ring Road.