Bangalore Metro Rail Project- A Bird's view

Legal Body: Bangalore Mass Rapid Transit Ltd (BMRTL)
Total length of project: 33 kms
Routes: East-West (18.1 km) & North-South (14.9 km)
CorridorsType: Elevated and underground
Project Start Date: March 2005, June 2005, July 2005, August 2005
Going Live: Mid-2007, October 2008, October 2009
Number Of Stations: 32
Number Of Commuters Per Day: 820,000
Proposed Fare: 1.33-1.66 times the bus fares. Annual escalation fares at 4%
Cost/Km Underground: Rs 250 crore
Cost/Km Elevated: Rs 80 crore
Total Cost: Rs 6207 crore
Fund Formula: State: Rs 1807 cr
Centre/Federal: Rs 1447 cr
Financial Institutions: Rs 2953 cr
Interest rate: Approx 8.75% for a 15 year term loan, line of credit form insurance companies and provident fund agencies comes for 25 years at 9% interest.

Ground-level preparations for the ambitous metro rail project in Bangalore are being made with the State Government frezing development activity in 247 premises and buildings it had tentatively identified for this purpose. The govt has asked the Bangalore City Corporation, BDA and other civic bodie to seek a no-objection certifcate (NoC) from the BMRTL before it approves any construction activity.

Bangalore Metro will have a standard gauge and will take cover under the 100-year old Mysore Tramways Act, which will require some amendments by the state goverment to suit the present day needs. With this, BMRTL can avoid going to the railway ministry for all sanctions.

Some of the space which is going to be claimed by BMRTL for the project are as follows:

4,126 sq mt of Central Bus Sand in Majestic.

On MG Road the project will use 14 sq mt of Nalli Silks and 25 sq mt of Land Mark building.

210 sq mt of IOC petrol bunk near Trinity Circle.

Trinity Complex, Megdooth Motors, Police Quarters on Ulsoor Road.

Part of Govt Kannada Primary School at Srirampuram, Govt Urdu School at Chickpet.

74 sq mt of Bangalore Hospital on RV Road.

4,320 sq mt of Mysore Mills behind Maharaja Mills.

119,000 sq mt of private industry land on Tumkur Road.

Phase 2 details:

Total length of project: 50 km
Will connect the two technology hubs of Electronic city and International Tech Park in Whitefield.
Project Start Date: 2009
Type: Elevated

Monorail is very expensive and the return on investment [ROI] is very low. Mono Rail system costs Rs 120 crore per km, against Metro Rail's Rs 75 crore per km. Mtro Rail had a capacity to carry 45,000-50,000 passengers per hour, while Mono Rail can carry only 10,000-12,000 passengers per hour.

The management of laying the foundation caps and raising columns for girders will have a bearing on the time taken to complete the 36-km metro rail. The construction is supposed to cause minimal inconvenience to citizens. Erection of a girder requires at least seven days. Executive engineer Yashavanth Chavan said, "The process begins with BMRTL acquiring 3.5 metres from the centre of the road, on either side. Once we have a barricaded square, we will construct a 'bored cast in pile', which basically acts as a foundation for girder columns.We dig in four 15 metre deep holes and fill them with reinforced steel and concrete. These will act as four legs for a slab called the pile cap. The pile is earthquake resistant."

The construction of the metro columns would be done in two-km stretches and traffic would be affected for two to three months at a time. There will be 18 columns every two km. Since only seven metres of the main road are occupied, traffic will not be affected. In the piling stage, work will begin in the evenings. The columns will be transported from the off-site area and set up at night. Each column 1.5 metres wide and 5.5 metres high is laid.

BMRTL has, in principle, finalised the land acquisition deal with the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As per the agreement, nearly 102 acres of defence land has been acquired for the metro project at the cost of Rs 1.13 crore. This was in lieu of the 57 acres released earlier by the MoU to the BMRTL for the ELRTS project. The agreement was reached following a meeting on June 27, 2005 which was attended by the Chairman and Joint Secretary of MoD P K Rastogi, Additional Financial Advisor of MoD Dipali Khanna and Mr Shrivastava.

The defence areas acquired include 100 acres of Peenya Plantation and half an acre each of army land on Old Madras Road, Army-based workshop on SV Road and inside Maneckshaw Grounds.

Tax For Private Vehicles

The Metro Rail may substantaily ease the traffic on some roads. BMRTL has proposed a number of measures, including imposing entry tax on private vehicles and restricting of three-wheelers on certain roads. Other items include,

• Entry tax on private vehicles on certain roads
• Parking fee substantially hiked on certain raods
• No three-wheelers permitted on certain roads
• City bus corridors shall not run parallel to Metro corridors
• Intercity buses to termiante at city outskirts
• Public parking will be provided at major Metro stations
• Feeder bus services will be provided at Metro stations
• Common ticketing will be introduced for Metro and feeder buses
  
  

School Timings

Today's newspaper carries the news that the Education Department is considering staggering the timings for all schools. This is being done so that the school timings don't clash with the peak traffic hours in the city and hence is being considered as a step to decongest the city traffic.

I pass by New Horizon School everyday on my way to office. I used to often think about the same point as to why can't the school timings be changed so as to spare the children of having to go through the madness.

I was browsing on the net and found that there are more than 3500 schools in the city and close to 11 lakh school going children! Isn't that a huge number? Come to think of it, a large number of children travel in auto rickshaws and Matador vans that are usually loaded more than their capacity. This also leads to a slow moving traffic and is also an unsafe travel option for the kids. Though overloading of private vehicles is legally an offence, parents also don't object to it due to the unavailability of other viable options. In this regard, the government's announcement that very soon they will start a special bus service for school children, is a step in the right direction.

Another issue that exists is that though there are schools cropping up at every nook and corner of the city, most of these don't have the basic infrastructure. There are no adequate provisions for alighting, boarding, parking of vehicles or cross over facilities for children at these schools. I wonder how the government is giving licenses to these schools(though I sincerely hope that one Mr. Horatti is not reading my post, otherwise he might go ahead and give fresh orders to close these schools in addition to the hundreds other which are on the verge of shutting down, thanks to our man!).

Children are the future of our nation. In that regard I see no initiatives being taken by the goverment to create an awareness among children regarding traffic rules and road safety. I still remember that during my school in Chandigarh, we had a compulsory training on "Traffic Rules and Road Safety". During this training, we were taken to the traffic control department and one of the authorities there gave us an informative presentation on how to cross the road, basic traffic rules and signals etc. I doubt any schools have this exercise as a part of their curriculum. If we don't put enough effort in synergising the right ideas and attitude in the minds of these children, it's unreasonable to expect these kids to put an end to the chaos that we have started.

Another annoying thing that I have observed is that despite innumerable "No Horn" signs near school premises, so many people still keep honking to their heart's content. I just don't understand why they do it. If you don't trust me, try standing near the New Horizon School, 14th Main, Indiranagar at around 9 am in the morning. I bet you won't be able to bear the noise for more than 5 minutes. I pity that the students and teachers have to bear the cacophony everyday. On the contrary, I think it's better to throw away all those "No Horn" signs as I suspect that many people remember to honk after seeing those sign boards!!

Strange are the people of our nation!!