Sky bus trial test run back on track
SANJAY BANERJEE
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
PANAJI: The outgoing managing director of Konkan
railway corporation limited (KRCL), B Rajaram (he
retires on January 31), believes in the age old maxim
- try and try again till you succeed. The Sky Bus
metro trial test run killed an engineer on September
25, 2004 just some two weeks before the technology was
to be dedicated to the nation by the Union railway
minister, Laloo Prasad Yadav.
As Rajaram, an IIT alumni, who invented the technology
and assigned the patent to the President of India ,
the accident came as a blow both to him and also to
the railways. But before retiring, Mr Rajaram has a
point to prove. "Before I leave the services, I would
like to make it acceptable. This is the first of its
kind in the world,' he said on Friday atop the world's
first sky bus station constructed in the premises of
Margaon railway station.
The commissioner of railway safety and experts of
research design and standard organisation would come
to Goa in another couple of days to check the
technology for certification.
"We have now made the Sky Bus into a regular railway
system with signaling and a motorman to operate it.
This would be first phase of the technology. Later on,
the Sky Bus would also go on auto mode that was
intended. But then one has to test it in phases." Mr
Rajaram said he has also requested the railway
ministry to include Sky Bus under Railway Act. "The
railway minister is also very interested in the
project and I have come to know he has inquired
whether it could be put up in Patna."
On the accident during the trial test run, Mr Rajaram
said it was difficult to fix the responsibility on any
one person. But what happened, he explained, is that
with extra grease on the track and test being done
after a drizzle, the wheels turned faster and at the
curve, the Sky Bus gathered speed. When somebody
pressed the emergency brake, the electrical breaking
system got snapped and the mechanical brake (that was
hardly used) failed. The module hit the coloumn and
gathered more speed and then hit several more
coloumns.
"Henceforth, both the electrical and mechanical
breaking systems would operate independently, besides
being manually operated by a motorman. Traverses would
replace the curves and it would cover short distances.
There would not be any need to put grease also. With
box like structures instead of the open system now put
up for the test, the track would not be affected by
rain also," Mr Rajaram noted.
The KRCL has engaged financial consultants,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers with 12 national consortiums,
one of them having an international partner, making a
bid for obtaining the license of the technology.
Several states like Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata have
evinced interest for the Sky Bus. The railway has a
big stake as safety and technology comes under its
purview. The railway would get five crore for every km
of track as royalty. The inquiry made within the
country for the technology stretches 950 km, Mr
Rajaram said.
The review meeting of the shareholders agreement of
the KRCL after 15 years is scheduled in June. Mr
Rajaram said there is a clause which says, the railway
shall take over the KRCL if it can pay off the
outstanding liability of some Rs 4000 crore.
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