Changing the way Delhi travels

Delhi govt gives in-principle nod for transport mode in east Delhi; to be completed in 5 years.

Monorail is finally going to be a reality. The Delhi government on Tuesday gave in-principle approval to construct a 10.8km monorail line in east Delhi.

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To connect Shastri Park Metro station with Trilokpuri, the monorail corridor will connect three Metro lines and is expected to have a ridership of about 1.37 lakh every day. A detailed proposal will now be brought in the Cabinet for its formal approval.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit gave the consent to build the line after the Delhi State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (DSIIDC) - the agency which had proposed the corridor - gave a detailed presentation.

Sheila Dikshit's son Sandeep is the sitting MP from east Delhi parliamentary constituency where the corridor has been proposed.According to the proposal, the monorail corridor will have 12 stations and will integrate with Metro corridors at Shastri Park (Dilshad Garden-Rithala line), Nirman Vihar (Dwarka-Anand Vihar-Noida line) and Trilokpuri (on the upcoming Yamuna Vihar-Mukundpur line). The monorail will run on an elevated corridor, which will be built on 9m-high pillars.

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"The monorail will attract sufficient ridership and will provide an intra-city transport service in congested localities of east Delhi where even buses are difficult to ply," Dikshit said.

The construction of a monorail corridor in Mumbai is in full swing while Bengaluru, Chennai and Ludhiana are also contemplating to have this mode of transport in areas where Metro cannot be built.

Interestingly, this is not the first time the Delhi government has proposed constructing monorail in areas where Metro corridors cannot be built.

The government had earlier planned three routes - Budh Vihar (near Rohini) and Red Fort; Kalyanpuri (east delhi) and Red Fort; and Delhi University and Gulabi Bagh (north Delhi).

The 45km-long network was expected to cost about R7,000 crore. But the government put the proposal on the backburner for the want of funds.

The DSIIDC had also proposed the construction of a 4km-long monorail corridor from Bapraula in west Delhi to its upcoming Knowledge Park but later dropped the project.

The system is likely to take about five years - from project approval to make it operational - to complete.

According to officials, monorail is the most apt mode of public transport for congested areas where acquiring land is an issue and heavy rail systems like Metro cannot be constructed.

Officials said monorail can take sharp curves and can take steep grades up to 6 per cent to cross obstructions like flyovers.

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