With the Centre clearing the Bangalore Metro Rail project, the much needed efficient mass rapid transport system will hit the tracks soon. Once the Metro Rail gets on the track, the traveling time will considerably come down and the chaos on the roads is likely to end.

Chief Minister Dharam Singh has ruled out a rethink on the ambitious project. He, however, had stated that the Government would look into the objections raised by former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and others.

The project is expected to solve the traffic problem. Despite flyovers, grade separators and oneways, reaching one end of the city from another takes over an hour now. While a BMTC bus, an autorickshaw or a private taxi takes over an hour to reach JP Nagar from Peenya, the proposed underground metro can cover that distance within 30 minutes. It will take almost the same time to reach Byappanahalli from Mysore Road junction.

If the office-goer needs to go elsewhere, a metro change at Majestic is all that is needed as the North-South corridor from Peenya - JP Nagar and East-West corridor from Byappanahalli to Mysore Road Junction intersect there.

The eco-friendly project is also expected to make roads safer by reducing the number of accidents. The proposed mode of city transport is expected to ferry around 8.2 lakh commuters back and forth each day, reducing the burden on surface transport. However, some traffic experts say that the figure is unrealistic and it is very difficult to achieve that ridership.

While Metro aims to provide an efficient mass transit system to Bangaloreans, the good thing will be that its fares will be comparable to MBTC and a bigger advantage will be that a single ticket will allow you to ride on the metro and bus as well.

The mega infrastructure project, which crisscrosses the city is unlikely to disturb the beauty and majesty of the Garden City. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) which has successfully implemented a similar project at the national capital has done the study for the project in city.

However, Deva Gowda and some others are opposing the project on the grounds that it requires demolition of many a structure in the City. They want the Government to opt for such a system that causes least inconvenience to people and at the same time solve the traffic problem.

Meanwhile, the Government has also ordered a comprehensive traffic study to find out the heavy and light traffic corridors in the City. Once the study is done, the Government is expected to consider other proposals like Monorail to cover more areas.

The proposed project also raised a debate on the gauge on which the train would run. While the Bangalore Metro authorities have favoured the standard gauge, the Indian Railways insist that the Metro rail run on broad gauge, the most widely used in India . The Metro authorities' argument is that the standard gauge, which is about 4 feet wide, will allow a smaller turning radius and use up less space compared to the 5' 6” broad gauge. The railway authorities on their part say that since broad gauge is the most widely used gauge in the country, the metro should run on this gauge. A standard gauge network will get isolated and will not allow for integration into the rail network, if required in future, they say.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express, Bangalore (Dated: 28^th Sept., 2005)