No headway to link Mohan Nagar-Vaishali metro as Ghaziabad authority searches for new options

According to officials, Metrolite is an urban transit system planned in cities with lower ridership projections and intended to act as a feeder system for the existing Metro network.

Ghaziabad: Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) officials on Wednesday met five private consultants to discuss the feasibility of constructing a new public transit system called Metrolite to connect the Mohan Nagar station on the Metro’s Red Line to the Vaishali station on the Blue Line, but the authority’s financial crunch might pose a roadblock.

Since the beginning of the year, the GDA has been looking for alternatives to connect the Mohan Nagar station to Vaishali station as well as Noida’s Sector 62 station. (Sakib Ali/HT Photo)

According to officials, Metrolite is an urban transit system planned in cities with lower ridership projections and intended to act as a feeder system for the existing Metro network.

GDA officials said they discussed with the consultants the feasibility of bringing in Metrolite in the public-private-partnership (PPP) mode in order to save costs since the authority is currently cash-strapped.

“We held a meeting with five consultants on Wednesday and wanted to know if we can bring Metrolite between Mohan Nagar and Vaishali. They told us that even on PPP, GDA would need to invest money at the start and end of the project. But we have funding issues. So, we are still looking for options which require less funding or a project which could easily be done on PPP mode without the authority making any huge investment,” Rakesh Kumar Gupta, chief engineer of GDA, said.

Since the beginning of the year, the GDA has been looking for alternate options to connect the Mohan Nagar station to Vaishali station as well as Noida’s Sector 62 station (also on the Blue Line) due to the high cost involved in connecting the route via the Metro train network, but has made no headway so far.

To be sure, in January 2020, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) submitted a project report to the GDA, which estimated that ₹1,517 crore would be needed to link Sector 62 and Mohan Nagar Metro stations and ₹1,808.22 crore would be required to fund the linking of Vaishali and Mohan Nagar Metro stations.

The other two options GDA considered earlier in the year were constructing a ropeway to connect Mohan Nagar to Vaishali, an idea which has not entirely been rejected yet,and bringing in Metro Neo to connect the two transit points. Officials said Metro Neo is a mass rapid transit system providing low-cost, energy-efficient, and eco-friendly urban transport solutions for tier 2 and tier 3 cities. It draws traction power from overhead cables and runs on the road.

“The feasibility report for Metro neo is still awaited while the peak ridership of the ropeway is estimated around 4,500 (only on one side) which is low,” Gupta said. To be sure, there has been no survey to indicate desirable ridership so far.

Ghaziabad currently has two Metro stations on the Blue Line and eight stations on the Red Line.

Meanwhile, according to residents, no transport system other than the Metro would be feasible for linking the two routes.

“One cannot expect passengers to use the Metro till Mohan Nagar, then break the journey to use another transport mode to reach Vaishali and then continue to Delhi in the Metro. The officials are not considering the practical problems other transport modes will pose in the long run, thus wasting any investment. Linking two Metro lines via the Metro network is the best option,” Rajendra Tyagi, councillor from Raj Nagar, said.

Sanjay Singh, councillor from Indirapuram’s Shipra Sun City, said that people from cis-Hindon and trans-Hindon areas have also raised concerns against the alternate modes.

“We have been raising the issue with several officials, including state officials. People across the city want Metro connectivity so that they can seamlessly connect to Old Delhi as well as New Delhi without changing transport modes,” Singh added.