Chandigarh now plans a Monorail, after dumping Metro rail project

After the rejection of metro rail project in last year in the month of July now, the Chandigarh administration is now planning to have a monorail.

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Intamin Transportation Limited monorail
Intamin Transportation Limited monorail (photo: youtube)
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Chandigarh: After the rejection of metro rail project in last year in the month of July now, the Chandigarh administration is now planning to have a monorail. As an alternative model of mass transport in the city.

Monorail is a rapid transit system which consists of a single track, typically elevated, with trains suspended from it.

Intamin Transportation Limited, a Switzerland-based company has given a presentation as well as the proposal regarding constructing the monorail network to senior Union Territory officers last week.

In the first phase, 20km network is proposed. It will connect the Tricity — Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali.

During the presentation, the monorail company stated that the monorail has the capacity to ferry 10,000 to 12,000 passengers per hour per direction. The cost of construction will be around Rs 2,500 crore according to the current system, which translates to Rs 125 crore per km.

traffic in Chandigarh
traffic in Chandigarh (photo: the Indian express)

Company’s representative Suniti Varma said, “monorail is an environmentally friendly transportation system that runs on clean electrical energy.”

‘Applicable for tricity’

“The best part is that the project is viable in the tricity because of the light-weight track system that can be easily incorporated into the existing infrastructure,” said Suniti Varma.

A senior UT officer said the company has given its presentation and now the administration is studying the proposal in detail. He said “We will have another round of meeting before giving the project a go-ahead,”

If the project is approved, a technical and engineering feasibility study of the routes will be conducted followed by the development and submission of a business plan and detailed project report. While private industries are expected to contribute 80% cost of the project, the remaining 20% will be carried out by the Chandigarh administration.

‘Why no to metro’

plan for Chandigarh metro tricity plan which is now a history
Plan for Chandigarh metro tricity plan which is now a history (photo: Rajbir Singh)

It was in July last year during the home minister’s advisory committee meeting in New Delhi that Rajnath Singh said a big no to the metro project in Chandigarh, calling it non-viable, and asked the officers to look for alternative modes of transportation.

Even the Chandigarh officers admitted that at Rs 14,000 crore, the project is not financially possible. Also, neither Punjab nor Haryana had given their consent in writing for the metro project.

Member of Parliament (MP) Kirron Kher had already opposed the project stating that it would uproot the city. As a solution to traffic congestion.

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