Jobless characters like me and my friend Rajesh were having a tete session on the ills of the city. If we weren’t jobless we would probably would be doing something about it. Fortunately we were not entirely jobless and were busy entertaining a third involved with the Metro project. What started out as a cynical snort from us left us gasping by the end. It really makes you feel small when you look at the numerous problems in developing a city. I am posting the gist of the issues surrounding the Bangalore Metro which arose during the discussion.
The first phase of the metro would have 6 stations. The track laying is slated to be finished in the next six months and then the stations would begin. However, there are far too many logistical, legal and unavoidable issues which warrant attention.
Earlier the six stations were designed to showcase a particular landmark. For ex., one of the stations looked like the Vidhana Soudha. Then after lot of brainstorming, 6 different architects from Bangalore were asked to redesign keeping a common thread of thought. Below is an image of how the station at the junction of Old Madras road and the 80 feet road, Indiranagar will look. When you approach the 80 feet road, you walk right onto it while it is placed sideways to Old Madras road. It’s a contemporary design and the 6 stations are bound to change the face of Bangalore.
The stations will be operated with toll gate systems at the ground level which means everytime u enter a station, u cannot exit without swiping ur ticket at the exit. No commercial activities are encouraged in the station aiming at having the population on the move. The frequency of the trains is very high - a train is expected at every 5 mins. No one is expected to spend more than 5 mins in the station.
The construction activity for the stations has not begun. They would go through it in a phased manner and the first task is to lay the track. The land for all the 6 stations has been earmarked with a lot of opposition form the environmentalists. Issues which arise are numerous in this kind of a development. But below are a few trivial issues most frequently discussed.
a. It’s single track, meaning if there is a delay at one point, it would delay the other trains too. So in effect only one train can run till the tracks are diversified. This is a problem as the length of the track is covering most parts of Bangalore including electronic city. (at some point) Multiple trains are required keeping in mind the volume of passengers on each station is huge. No solution has been found so far, though there are certain workarounds offered. Certain stretches might be double tracked in between stations to prevent delay to other trains. Land acquisition is a major problem here.
b. As it is an elevated rail system, the power does not pass overhead the train, but on the tracks itself. This means people wishing to commit suicide (am I giving ideas to anyone?) can just step onto the track. The train passing in such a case must be capable of going on bumps without compromising on the safety of the passengers (Remember that the power is on the tracks). It is vital to bar the public from accessing the tracks. To prevent this guardrails are being considered at every station to avoid such incidents. I didn’t know that a person wishing to die could cause so much damage and cost escalations!
c. In both the above cases, the cost escalation is huge. Providing guard rails is costly as you would be doing it for the station itself and also on the exposed sections of the overhead tracks. Also in future if you want to upgrade the entire length of the tracks, the cost would multiply by that much as you not only double the tracks, but also provide the new stretch additional rail guards.
d. The building of these stations will contemporize the city of Bangalore - but are we ready to cut down the trees to accommodate these? In places like MG road the station would mean losing the luxury of an open ground on one side of the road.
The Dehli Metro’s are another matter as they have implemented different solutions based on the environment. It is divided into two major lines. Line one is elevated and runs on a viaduct constructed between road medians between Inderlok - Rithala areas. Line 2 is underground for the entire length of 11 km between Dehli University and Central Secretariat passing through Chandni Chowk. The third line is part elevated and part underground.
I think we can consider part underground for the central areas of Bangalore where there is a bigger population. We should firmly keep our options open in any case to consider both overhead and underground as in the Dehli metro. The power supply would still be through the tracks, and might pose a risk.