With the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation submitting the Detailed Project Report on the first phase of the Delhi Monorail project, work on this first such project in North India could start in East Delhi within the next three to four months, Delhi Transport Minister Ramakant Goswami said on Wednesday following an inspection of the corridor on which the project is to come up. The project, he said, is expected to be completed by 2017 at a cost of Rs. 2,235 crore.
Mr. Goswami, who visited areas of East Delhi along with area MP Sandeep Dikshit and Delhi Metro Managing Director Mangu Singh, said the first Monorail corridor would usher in an era of public transport which would take it to the doorstep of people in congested colonies, where it was impossible to lay Metro rail lines.
The Minister said now that DMRC has submitted the DPR, a presentation would be made and put before the Delhi Cabinet. Thereafter, it would be sent to the Centre for its approval. The corridor would cater to around 1.5 lakh passengers daily and the fares would match those of Delhi Metro.
Recalling how Union Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath had some time back spoken of the need to expand the Monorail network in Delhi, Mr Goswami said that to begin with the East Delhi corridor would be taken up. “We will then proceed with the studies of the other proposed lines,” he said.
Mr. Dikshit said that the 11-kilometre corridor from Shastri Park metro station to Trilokpuri will have 12 stations with three inter-change points at Shastri Park, Nirman Vihar and Trilokpuri to integrate it with three different Metro lines – the Dilshad Garden-Rithala line, Anand Vihar-Dwarka line and Mukundpur-Yamuna Vihar line.
He said RITES had carried out a Techno Economic Feasibility Study and DPR for this corridor whereas the Delhi Metro has further reviewed the DPR and submitted its report to the Government for implementation. The East Delhi MP said the need for Monorail was urgent as the area colonies have become very congested due to coming up of high-rise buildings.
While bus and metro connectivity was there, the Monorail would provide further reach and depth to the mass transport network.
It is also easier and cheaper to lay Monorail lines than Metro lines. The Monorail can also take sharp curves which the Metro cannot and can thus run in densely populated localities as it takes lesser area to operate, he said.
