After shelving metro, Chandigarh plans monorail

Wednesday 18th July 2018 06:46 EDT
 
 

Chandigarh: The Chandigarh administration is now planning to have monorail as an alternative mod of transport as Union home minister Rajnath Singh said no to the metro rail project for the city. Monorail consists of a single track, typically elevated, with trains suspended from it. A Switzerland-based company has given presentation as well as proposal regarding constructing the monorail network to senior UT officials last week. According to the proposal, the project will connect the tricity - Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali. In the first phase, 20km network is proposed.

During the presentation, the company stated that monorail has the capacity to ferry 10,000 to 12,000 passengers per hour per direction. The cost of construction will be around £250 million. According to a representative of the company, monorail is environmentally friendly and that it runs on clean electrical energy.

Viable for tricity

“The best part is that the project is viable for the tricity because of the light-weight track system that can be easily incorporated into the existing infrastructure,” said the official. The firm said the monorail can be operated both automatically and manually with a driver on board. An official said that the administration is studying the proposal in detail. “We will have another round of meeting before giving the project a go-ahead,” said the official.

If and when the project is approved, a technical and engineering feasibility study of the routes will be conducted followed by development and submission of a business plan and detailed project report, said sources. While private players are expected to contribute 80% cost of the project, the remaining 20% will be borne by the Chandigarh administration.

Why no to metro

In July last year, during the home minister’s advisory committee meeting in New Delhi, Rajnath Singh rejected the metro rail project, calling it non-viable, and asked the officers to look for alternative modes of transport. Even the Chandigarh administration officials admitted that at £ 1.40 billion, the project is not financially feasible. Also, neither Punjab nor Haryana had given their consent in writing.


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