Another rail, another traffic mess?
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Bengaluru: The plan to revive Monorail project has been meet with stiff opposition, and there seems to be ample and valid reasons for the protest.
First of all, the construction work for the required monorail or light rail is only going to add to the traffic chaos in the city. The monorail or light rail would, like Metro Rail, again require rigid elevated structures that will lessen road space in the city.
Take for example, the 15 kilometre monorail alignment, Greenline, that was proposed from Majestic to Agarahara Lake. The plan had envisioned that the Greenline will traverse through Majestic, High Grounds, Cubbonpet, Wilson Garden, Adugodi, Koramangala, Madiwala, HSR Layout, Sarjapur and Agara.
These areas witness very high traffic and any major construction activity is going to cut off the moving space for commuters. Bengalureans have already suffered because of the long-delayed Namma Metro and the city planners have enough lessons to learn from that project.
The Metro work has already taken up a large amount of space and if the city is to go for monorail, it will again bring down the space for road users.
Urban experts have vehemently opposed the monorail project and majority of them opine that the existing bus transport system should be improved. “There is already quite a bit of chaos in the city, from ongoing construction projects.
Metro is likely to continue its work for several years with resulting challenges from that construction work too. People need a break from all this inconvenience and annoyance. The last thing we need is one more massive construction project, while we have not yet figured out how to do these things with proper work-zone planning and diversions,” stated Ashwin Mahesh, ABide member and urban expert.
“Even after all these expensive things are built, the backbone for mobility in the city will be bus. If only our leaders showed half as much enthusiasm for investments in bus transport as they do for the far more expensive alternatives!" wondered Mahesh.
If traffic woes are not enough a reason for giving up on monorail, there are several studies that point out that monorail is only efficient for a city with a population of 10 lakh or less. But Bengaluru has already crossed the one crore population mark.
However, another urban expert R.K. Misra, founder of the Nav Bharat Democratic Party, said that any mode of transport that promises to ease traffic should be welcomed.
“Roads in the city are already overburdened. Monorail promises much in addressing the traffic volume. But yes, when it comes to planning and completing projects, our administration is found to be not very efficient. But still, monorail should be welcomed. Look at Tokyo, it has all sorts of transport modes from metro to monorail to high-speed rail," Misra said.
While the plan is being proposed, it is felt that the city should first have an independent mechanism to decide whether a project is needed or not.
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