On Wed June 28 2006 14:25, Ashish Gulhati wrote: > sky trains. They can be built atop existing highways
Good idea if you knew exactly what drains, sewers, water mains, electric lines, and cables actually run underneath the foundations of each pylon or support. These issues were sorted out more than a century ago in London/Paris/New York. They have not yet nbeen sorted out in Mumbai/Bangalore. The delays caused by the lack of such knowledge lead to cost overruns, and lack of availablity of capacity in time as well as continued congestion. Let me give an example of how democracy in Bangalore gives justice to people who live behind my house while the same justice delays infrastrcuture. The proposed Metro rail project is due to have a railway station near where I live. Residents of the area in which the railway station is due to be built have been told that 50 feet of their plots will be bought by the government. They have appealed to the courts and have won a legal battle that says that the givernment cannot willy nilly grab their land. 1)result No 1: residents win a democratic battle against government 2)result No 2: Metro rail project will be delayed even futher leading to more congestion and demad could exceed capacity when it is done.
