E-Paper
Haryana proposes pod car system to shuttle between old & new terminals of Chandigarh international airport
The PRT system has small automated vehicles, called Pod cars, operating on dedicated rail tracks. A proposal in this regard was submitted by Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal at a recent meeting convened by Chandigarh administrator Banwari Lal Purohit
The Haryana government, which is a stakeholder in the Chandigarh International Airport, has proposed a next-generation personalised rapid transit (PRT) system to provide the shortest and cost-effective connectivity between old Chandigarh airport and the new international airport terminal located in Mohali.
The PRT system has small automated vehicles, called Pod cars, operating on dedicated rail tracks. A proposal in this regard was submitted by Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal at a recent meeting convened by Chandigarh administrator Banwari Lal Purohit.
Proposed by the Haryana Metro Rail transport Corporation (HMRTC), a company wholly owned by the Haryana government, the system would require only about six acres along the boundary of Chandigarh International Airport. The ownership of this land will remain with the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Kaushal said that as per the projections, 77 pod cars would be required initially for transporting passengers as well as goods. “It will be a guided transit system fully secured with only two stoppages. Pods cannot be forcefully stopped in between and thus it addresses any security concern. The time travel will be only 8 to 10 minutes,” the chief secretary said.
Cost-effective
The project cost is about ₹231 crore, including ₹116 crore as infrastructure cost, ₹77 crore for control systems and ₹38.50 crore as cost of vehicles or Pods as compared to spending ₹1,000 crore for other alternatives. The operation cost is ₹25 lakh for Pod cars as against ₹2.90- ₹7 crore for other alternatives including Metro, Metrolite and Metroneo.
The Chandigarh administration is already in the process of providing road connectivity from Chandigarh to the new airport terminal. Two alternative alignments have been suggested and submitted to IAF as it is a defence airport. The proposals are under consideration of the Union ministry of defence.
The chief secretary said the two options of road connectivity under consideration are very costly and time-consuming as it would require land acquisition and removal of unauthorised structures.
He said that the Chandigarh administration may continue with its proposal to provide road connectivity to the new international airport. However, HMRTC may get the detailed project report (DPR) of pod connectivity from old airport terminal to new airport terminal prepared in the next three months for submitting a concrete proposal for consideration of UT administration, Indian Air Force and Chandigarh International Airport Ltd (CHIAL).
The UT administration has decided to support the pod car proposal, he said.
For cutting down the distance and travel time two proposals – an underpass connectivity and road connectivity have been under consideration for a long time. A techno feasibility study was conducted by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) for the underpass and the estimated project cost was ₹1,357 crore. An underpass was proposed to be constructed in the airport area that would have reduced the distance by around 10 km for people coming from Panchkula or Himachal Pradesh. However, the project was dropped due to its huge capital cost investment citing its severe economic stress. The proposal also faced objections from the IAF because an underpass below operational surface of IAF station would not be acceptable for security reasons.
Road connectivity along the boundary wall of the IAF station was also proposed after clearing all obstruction within 100 metres. This would have reduced distance by 8-9 kms. However, it involves acquisition as well as demolition of illegal construction. Due to this and various other reasons the road connectivity projects is pending.
He said that the current connectivity to international terminal is such that passengers coming from the Himachal Pradesh, Panchkula, Ambala side to international terminal have to cover long distance to reach. They also have to cross a traffic choked point where at times one has to spend 30-45 minutes. In a pod car, the passengers will take 8-10 minutes to reach international terminal.
