Re: [Assam] MRTS for Guwahati

[Dilip/Dil Deka]

There is a kind of a ring road that bypasses the city. However it is not enough. There definitely is a need for mass transportation through the city. City buses ply but they are all small.

Dilip

umesh sharma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

How about making a Beltway --like in Washington DC or Delhi's Ring Road around the city - for a start. I think it would be cheaper and eaier to build and take off  load from inner city . Also, how does one to tackle the floods - which frequent the city?

 

Umesh

Dilip/Dil Deka <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Guwahati definitely needs better mass transportation and this article makes the case for MRTS well. Do you think MRTS will be a good solution to Guwahati's road traffic nightmare?

Dilip

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The property prices in Pitampura and Rohini have more than doubled during the last three years. Earlier these places, though in Delhi, were considered to be in the back of beyond because they were so far from the city centre at Con-naught Place. The rather uncomfortable journey by bus or car through crowded roads with heavy traffic and high pollution levels took around an hour. Property prices in Rohini were once comparable to those in Guwahati. Not any more. What has brought about this drastic change?
 The catalyst for this huge transformation has been Delhi’s MRTS, its Metro Railway.
 As cities grow in size, the number of vehicular trips on the road system goes up. This necessitates a pragmatic policy shift to discourage private modes and encourage public transport once the level of traffic along any travel corridor in one direction exceeds 20,000 persons per hour.
 Guwahati, with a population of over one million, depends almost entirely on buses as its sole mode of mass transport. Bus services are inadequate and heavily overcrowded. This situation has led to a proliferation of personal vehicles, a majority of which are two-wheelers. The results of extreme congestion on the roads are ever slowing speeds, increasing accident rate, fuel wastage and environmental pollution. Pollution related health problems are reaching disconcerting levels.
 Today the traffic on the roads of Guwahati is a heterogeneous mix of cycles, scooters, buses, cars and rickshaws jostling with each other. This has resulted in a chaotic situation, so much so that the average number of persons killed or injured due to road accidents has increased drastically. Even widening the roads and building flyovers to ease the flow of traffic have offered limited gains as the vehicle and human population have both shot up. The position is expected to deteriorate further in the years to come.
 To meet forecasted transport demand for the year 2010, the number of buses will have to be at least doubled and personal vehicles will grow three-fold. This is sure to lead to further worsening of the levels of congestion and pollution, which has already crossed acceptable limits in many part of the city.
 Immediate steps are therefore needed to improve both the quality and availability of mass transport service. This is possible only if a non-polluting rail-based MRTS (mass rapid transit system) is introduced in the city. According to the 2001 census, India requires mass rapid transit systems in 35 metropolitan cities with more than one million population.
 The rail-based MRTS basically involves the use of electric trains, each capable of carrying hundreds of passengers, traversing the length and breadth of the city at high speeds, using tracks laid in underground tunnels or overhead elevated pillars, without hindrance from road traffic or conventional railway trains. Special features of these trains include wide aisles for rapid passenger movement as the train stops for only a minute or so at each station, sensor operated doors which refuse to shut if passengers stand too close to them, a climate control system, an internal public address system to provide information about stations to passengers, sturdy handles and straps for the standing passengers to cling on to and comfortable bench seats including reserved ones for the old and physically challenged.
 MRTS is essentially a social sector project, whose benefits will pervade wide sections of the economy by way of:
 l Time saving for commuters
 l Reliable and safe journey
 l Reduction in atmospheric pollution
 l Reduction in accidents
 l Reduced fuel consumption
 l Reduced vehicle operating costs
 l Increase in the average speed of road vehicles
 l Improvement in the quality of life
 l More attractive city for economic investment and growth
 However, mass rapid transit systems are capital intensive and have long gestation periods. Therefore, planning has to be done well ahead. It has been observed that in developed countries, planning for a mass transit system starts when the city population size exceeds one million; the system is in position by the time the city population is two to three million and once the population exceeds four million or so, planned extensions to the MRTS is vigorously taken up. All cities with more than three million population should have a metro system.
 In developing countries including India, because of paucity of funds, planning and implementation of rail-based mass rapid transit systems has been lagging far behind the requirements. There are eight cities in the country with population exceeding three million, out of which only Kolkata and Delhi have metro systems. The other six cities Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chennai and Pune are still to be covered. The DPRs (detailed project reports) for all these cities have already been accepted and work on the Mumbai Metro is to begin shortly.
 It is high time that Guwahati also started planning for a metro system. Of course, the city does not seem to have the ideal conditions for a rail-based MRTS to be brought in. It has narrow roads and road possession for construction is difficult in the old city area, as seen recently along the GNB Road. Implementation may also involve demolition of private properties. Added to this, there may be fears that the frequent waterlogging may affect the metro system.
 However, the citizens are enlightened and would eagerly welcome introduction of a people-friendly MRTS, though they may initially face some difficulties during the implementation phase. Metro railway will definitely be a cheap mode of transportation, maybe not as cheap as a bus, but cheaper than an autorickshaw or four-wheeler and definitely safer than a two-wheeler. In Delhi, the maximum Metro fare is only fourteen rupees.
 In spite of having personal vehicles, people will use the Metro since it has tremendous advantages. First of all, the city dwellers will not have to bother about parking space. Every day we are adding about 100 vehicles in the city. Car parking is going to be a major problem in the next five years. Secondly, the commuters will definitely enjoy the comfortable ride in clean, air-conditioned coaches which will not only take them to the destination in half the time required in personal vehicles but will also ensure their safety.
 Regarding fears of waterlogging, the metro rail system can also be run on overhead, high elevation pillars in susceptible areas, as has been done on the Red Line Metro route in Delhi. Much of the land required may be under government control and hence can be easily acquired.
 Guwahati has an unassailable advantage in that the main railway track runs right through the urban area. Unfortunately, these railway assets are not being fully utilized. There used to be a shuttle service between Narangi and Maligaon but now city commuter traffic by rail is practically non-existent. The land adjoining the railway track, which has become a haven for anti-socials, can be used for building the metro railway. Alternatively, instead of building flyovers or overbridges on the MRD and GNB Road, overhead metro rail tracks can be laid on pillars over the road route extending from Narangi to Jalukbari. Since these pillars will be higher than the average flyover pillar, the aesthetics will be maintained, there will be no environmental degradation in the adjoining localities and thus the stigma associated with living ‘under’ a flyover will be avoided. True, there will be difficulties, some of which may seem insurmountable, but the job must be done. The Calcutta Metro took almost two decades to build. The famous furniture shops along the Panchkuian Marg have ceased to exist, heralding the passing of an age, due to the construction of the Blue Line of the Delhi Metro. The shops have been shifted to a multi-storied market provided by the Government of Delhi.
Planning and Execution
 The PWD, Guwahati Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) or even any private construction company cannot be entrusted with the construction of a project of this nature. A company must be formed with equity participation from the Central and State governments for implementation and subsequent operation of the MRTS. The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) was specifically brought into existence to give the city of Delhi a world class Metro. The DMRC, not falling within the category of a public sector undertaking, is vested with greater autonomy and powers to execute the gigantic project involving many technical complexities, under difficult urban environment and within a very limited time frame.
 Guwahati can also follow this precedent by setting up a Guwahati Metro Rail Corporation. The company must project an image of efficiency, transparency, courtesy and a “we mean business” attitude. The person at the top should have total dedication and commitment to the corporate mission. Integrity should be beyond doubt. The main driving force behind the Delhi Metro project, managing director E Sreedharan, seems to possess these qualities.
 Targets should be most sacrosanct. The first phase of the Delhi Metro has been almost completed within two years of the commissioning of the initial stretch between the stations of Tis Hazari and Shahdara. Two lines have been made functional already. The Red Line is mostly overhead and runs between Rithala in the west and Shahdara in the east. The Yellow Line is mostly underground and runs between Delhi University in the north and Central Secretariat in the south. The Red and Yellow lines intersect at Kashmiri Gate Metro Station where you can change lines by transferring to platforms on different levels connected by a system of stairs, escalators and elevators for the old or physically challenged. A third line, the Blue Line connecting Connaught Place, which is already along the Yellow Line route, with Dwarka in southeast Delhi will be made operational by the end of this year.
 Construction activities should not inconvenience or endanger the public or leave unsightly scars on the city. The structures should be aesthetic and merge well with the surroundings. Construction should not lead to ecological or environmental degradation.
 We could take the help of Delhi Metro Rail Corporation or Calcutta Metro Railway Corporation to conceive a proper project with technical guidance and help in getting the government clearances. If they prepare the detailed project report, the Central Government will have confidence about the viability of such a project because of their experience in this field. Hence, there should not be much difficulty in clearing these projects. After the project is cleared, they can assist us, like a prime consultant, to oversee certain aspects like technical parameters and timeframe. However, it is doubtful that they will be able to get involved in execution since they are very busy with the Delhi Metro and Calcutta Metro projects.
Financing plan
 Urban MRTS projects are meant to provide a safe, speedy and affordable mode of travel to the commuters. They have not generally been found to be financially profitable enough to attract private investors in most cities of the world, despite their large indirect economic benefits. MRTS fares cannot be fixed purely on the basis of commercial principles, without drastic decrease in ridership (commuters) and defeating the very object of setting up such mass transit systems. Hence, the city dwellers must necessarily supplement the revenue from fares received from MRTS users to meet the costs of setting up, as well as running the system. Guwahati (Dispur) being the capital of Assam and the Gateway to the Northeast, the Government of India, the State Government and agencies like the North Eastern Council must also contribute to meet part of these costs. The project may be financed by way of equity contributions from the government, soft loans from foreign financial institutions like the OECF (Japan) and the ADB, property development revenue and certain decided levies/taxes on the city dwellers. The loans can be repaid partly from surpluses from the revenue and partly through dedicated levies/taxes in the city.
 Things must be worked out in such a way that the government subsidy is only during the capital investment stage for funding the project. Thereafter the government should not have any further liability for running the system.
 The breakeven point of the project (in terms of traffic) and when it is likely to be achieved has to be worked out, based on estimated ridership (commuters) per day. If the system is able to get this number of ridership then the project is viable and subsidy from the government may not be required in the operational stage.
Vision
 The long-term vision of the venture should be to cover the whole city of Guwahati and its outlying areas with a very modern and world class type of mass transport system — a vehicle to promote dignity and discipline in our city and finally something, besides the natural beauty of the region, that we, the people in the Northeast, can really be proud of. The ideal situation will be that anybody should be able to find a metro station in 15 minutes from anywhere in the city.


Utpal Gohain

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Umesh Sharma
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1-202-215-4328 [Cell Phone]

Ed.M. - International Education Policy
Harvard Graduate School of Education,
Harvard University,
Class of 2005

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