Hybrid monorail proposed for Bangalore

Even as Bangalore's citizens and the government grapple with the inadequate infrastructure for commuting, a consortium of companies from UK, Malaysia and India are proposing a Hybrid Monorail System as a complementary mass transit system.

The alignment for the system has been selected so that it acts as a feeder system to the proposed Bangalore Metro alignment and caters to the IT corridor - Electronic City and ITPL.

This Rs 4,045 crore project is being promoted by Metrail India and companies like Frazer Nash Research of UK, MMC Metrail of Malaysia and Sundaram Architects of India who are part of the consortium. Metrail India has put forward the concept to the Government of Karnataka last week and "expect a positive response shortly".

The consortium has sought an equity contribution of Rs 115 crore from the state and "a few acres of land" along the route for putting up stations and pillars for the monorail to run on.

Metrail is adopting a 2.5:1 debt:equity ratio and claim that they will be able to complete Phase I within 24 months after getting all clearances.

Consolidated Toll Network, a company under IL&FS, is assisting in preparing the financial model for the project which is being conceptualised under the Built Own Operate Transfer (BOOT) model for a period of 30 years.

Said Zafar Saifullah, chairman, Metrail India and a former cabinet secretary: "We plan to cover 86 km across the city in two phases. The first phase having a total route length of 54.8 km. This will connect the south side residential areas with the Central Business District and central portion of the city where high employment density is situated."

Two alignments are proposed in Phase I connecting Jarganahalli to Cantonment Station covering 18 km and the second one connects Hudson Circle to Electronic City covering 17.7 km and one winging its way to ITPL covering 19 km. Phase II of the project will connect Silk Board to Jarganahalli, ITPL to Byappanahalli and have a North Loop via. Cantonment, Mehkri Circle, Hebbal, Lingarajpuram and Bangalore East.

Explaining the advantages of Monorail system, Gordon Dixon, director, Frazer Nash, the technology advisers to this project said: "This Monorail operates at 48 volts and has its own power source onboard and does not require power lines to run along the track in the form of either third rail or in the form of overhead power source. Quick construction time results in less disruption to the surroundings as most of the materials are prefabricated and put in place."

Metrail India claimed that the cost for a passenger to travel around 18 km will be a nominal Rs 22 for the commute "which is extremely cost-effective in comparison to other current modes of commuting".