HOT TOPICS
SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Sanity Check: A Namma Metro link to Bengaluru International Airport
Written By Devesh - 17 November, 2008
BIAL Bangalore Namma Metro High Speed Rail suggestion HSRL Mobilicity metro
About 40 days ago, I had raised the issue of a "Sanity Check" on the proposed High Speed Rail Link (HSRL) to Bengaluru International Airport. The issues I raised were :
- Sanity Check 1: Who is the target customer of the HSRL ?
- Sanity Check 2: Convenience
- Sanity Check 3: Close integration with Namma Metro and BMTC
- Sanity Check 4: Affordability
- Sanity Check 5: Financial Viability
In parallel, I began pondering, if there are indeed any alternate solutions. One of the solutions I have come up with is using the Namma Metro itself. The Metro depot at Bayapanahalli depot near the old NGEF factory, will be the first depot implemented. Expected completion date is 2010. At the same time, the Cabinet has approved, in principle, the expansion of the Metro Phase 2, which includes extensions to the IT centric hubs of Electronics City, and Whitefield.
My proposal is detailed below, and I welcome comments. The route will commence from the Bayapanahalli depot or Indiranagar station which will the interchange point for the Whitefield extension. Proceed east till the Outer Ring Road (ORR). Go north/northwest on the ORR along the median, since there is no space on the sides. At HBR 4th block, head north towards Kannur and Bagalur, passing Bangalore International School. From Bagalur, a straight trip to Bengaluru International Airport.
[If you do not see the map, please read the original article]
--
The strength of my proposal. My own sanity check.
1. Utilises existing road or upcoming Metro infrastructure to reduce costs.
- The route will commence from the Bayapanahalli depot or Indiranagar station which will the interchange point for the Phase 2 Whitefield extension.
- Proceed along existing roads, so acquisition of land is minimised.
- There is an existing BMTC depot at the Hennur Road - ORR junction which will aid in the integration of mass transport systems.
- Opens up an alternate route along North East Bangalore, instead of duplicating existing route via Mekhri Circle, Hebbal, NH7.
2. Will be fast While not as fast as the HSRL, the distance of 32 km, can be covered in about 40 minutes. The metro can operate up to 80kmph speed. Beyond HBR layout, with the number of stations reducing, the average speed picks up.
3. Integrates with the city The HSRL is designed as a dedicated airport link and meant only for passengers. Without bringing non-passenger airport workers (employees, business visitors like importers, exporters, cargo agents, customs agents, etc.) on board, there is insufficient volume to justify the expense of the HSRL. The Metro increases the catchment and will additionally bring in passengers beyond passengers, including cross town commuters, who will use the metro till HBR layout, and beyond. The Phase 2 link from Electronics City to Yelanhanka, via city centre, Fraser town, Nagavara, Sanjivini Nagar will come though the centre of Bangalore, and can join up with the airport link at HBR Layout. Use of the Metro will also accommodate the needs of the people at "airport-city" when it comes up. A metro based airport line will also integrate with other surface transport mechanisms like bus and inter-city rail.
4. Decongests the city centre BMRC has a lot of land available at Bayapanahalli, and by integrating with the existing Metro Phase 1, the airport traveler can travel on rail all the way from the fringes of the city where he/she resides or works, instead of coming to an already congested city centre in a car or a bus.
5. What about special coaches for passengers Yes very possible. While the normal "in-city" phase 1 trains will commence with 3 coaches, the metro has a capacity of 6 coaches. 2 Coaches out of 6 can be modified with luggage racks.
6. City check-in (air) terminal (CAT) While it is very much possible, but the question I pose ..... is it really needed ? Most passengers today travel light, not carrying more than 1 small piece of luggage in addition to a briefcase or laptop bag. International passengers, and those with multiple pieces of heavy bags, will in any case take a direct service like their own car or a cab. In mainland Europe, the CAT system is prevalent only because there is an extensive long distance railway network. Even London does not have a CAT on its "Heathrow Express"
7. Are there proven models of my proposal Yes. MRTs of Singapore, New Delhi, and London . Despite having passenger numbers, the SMRT is essentially geared towards transporting airport workers, and those passengers with less baggage, for these two groups constitute about 80% of the airport traffic on a daily basis. New Delhi is planning a dedicated airport link, in addition to integration of the Dwarka line. Delhi can afford having two links. One primarily targeting passengers, the other for the rest of airport travelers. Being the seat of government and host to the Commonwealth games 2010, brings its own largess, and Delhi has the passenger numbers, to financially justify spending Rs. 3,800 Cr. on a dedicated rail link. Bangalore does not have the numbers, nor the largess.
7. Other benefits The line opens up a new avenue instead of duplicating existing connectivity. A successful train system is one that does not have buses running parallel to it, but rather, running to it, in a clover leaf pattern. Currently the entire land between Hoskote, Kannur, Bagalur and Devanahalli, is lying unused. Much of it is barren and not conducive to agriculture. By installing a Metro, it enables development of this entire segment, bounded on the west by the Metro, and on the east by NH207 which will ultimately become part of the Peripheral Ring Road/Satellite Town Ring Road (which ever comes up first). Companies are looking to Bangalore, but cannot afford the high cost of real estate now prevalent in most of the industrial areas of Bangalore, enabling decongestion of the city centre, and moving Bangalore towards its stated goal of creating self-sufficient satellite towns.
8. Finances I estimate my proposal for an over-ground airport link, will be in region of Rs. 3,500 - 4,000 Cr, significantly less than the HSRL. Higher ridership with ensure better financial returns than HSRL, since the line will cater to more than just passengers, or even airport travelers, which in turn will keep the ticket prices affordable.
9. Weakness My plan has one major assumption that presumes the cooperation and willingness of BMRC to do this link. As dynamic a person Mr. Sivasailam is, BMRC, might say that Metro should follow development, rather than precede it. The persuasion I offer is that the start and end points are already developed and so is quite a bit of the route. For areas near Kannur and Bagalur, the stations can be provisioned and constructed later when development commences. Ultimately it is the chicken and egg story. Which will come first ? In that remote area, development will not come without some form of transportation. The other weakness is Utopian ideals. I am assuming that the politicians will not "interfere". In case of the HSRL, being a separate entity, "interference" is far easier, than in an existing project like Namma Metro.
Devesh Agarwal
http://aviation.deveshagarwal.com
COMMENTS
Naveen - 18 November, 2008 - 05:16
Devesh --- yr proposals :
The most obvious weakness is that people living in western & southern bangalore will be disadvantaged. With these proposals, they have to first come to east bangalore (byappanahalli), proceed further east on the airport train & traverse along the eastern crescent of the ORR to go to the airport, which will add a lot of expenses & commute time to their journey/s. Many, almost a majority of airport work-staff come from these parts, not to mention air travelers from western suburbs, who will all opt out & not use this train. They will all use the BMTC bus or taxi, as is the case now.
The second question mark is that, at this stage (ph-2 construction is slated appx’ly between 2011-2015), there will not be sufficient intermediate traffic to justify a Metro alignment between ORR & airport through the Kannur-Bagalur route, whereas, there already is far higher development through the Nagavara-Thirumanahalli route, where a Metro route is much needed. Hence, the CTTP had recommended the EC-Yelahanka route passing through Nagavara-Thirumanahalli. It seems highly doubtful if they will consider a train along the Kannur-Bagalur route, almost parallel to the one already planned.
A third question – during our meeting with Namma Metro officials recently, we confirmed that luggage would be allowed on Namma Metro trains, unlike Delhi metro. So, it would be possible to take luggage on any train in the network, & the need for special luggage storage facilities become less important, except perhaps on the last leg /reach to the airport.
City check-in terminal is provided in many cities overseas by the respective airlines & in certain cases for higher classed travelers, such as 1st class or business class. In Bangalore, an effort is being made by planners to provide this service for all passengers, owing to the greater inconveniences of within-city commuting, long distance to airport & the inconveniences of towing along their luggage through all of this.
Land between Hoskote-Kannur-Bagalur-Devanahalli is conducive to agriculture, & there are many fields & farms. In fact, a lot of arable land had been taken over for the airport.
I agree that HSRL is not really needed. Patronization levels will be very poor as ticket fee would be unaffordable by daily workers & staff at the airport. To make a train justifiable, particularly Metro or HSRL (costing much higher), it must combine all possible types of commuters. A dedicated service for the airport passengers alone will have less chances of success than one that combines air passengers, airport staff, general commuters & office workers /staff coming to work into the city from devanahalli side, etc.
My take on this is as follows :
During phase-2, a line will definitely come up to Yelahanka (most likely from EC). This will have interface/s with ph-1 line at MG road, & the other ph-2 line, probably between Kathriguppe & ITPL, at Vellara jn-Richmond rd. This line upto Yelahanka itself might be sufficient to cater to the airport needs, since it will be well networked with all the other line/s.
All that is required is an equivalent, smaller 2-coach or 3-coach train running between Yelahanka & airport. The coaches would have more sitting arrangements (unlike Namma Metro, which will have a lot of standing room) & space for luggage. This can be less frequent, say once each 15-20 mins or so, with the option to expand the train lengths (up to 6 coaches, as for Namma Metro), & also with provisions to reduce lead times to about 3 minutes, should this be necessary in the future. Presently, this train can have fewer stops in-between (about every 2-2.5km), such as at Yelahanka AirForce Base, Kogilu, Chikjala, Sadahalli, Kannamangala, etc.). Later, as growth escalates, the no. of stops can be increased as for regular city Metro (about every km).
We would thus, be assuming that the city extends to Yelahanka, up to which regular & frequent Metro services would be available; & are providing a service to just cover the additional distance from Yelahanka to the Airport. This might have much better patronization levels since all classes of people can start their journeys anywhere in town by Metro, get to Yelahanka, & then transfer to the airport train.
Common ticketing: If BMRC is the builder /operator for this, it will facilitate common ticketing system from “anywhere to airport” at competitive fee/s. If another operator is brought in, such as a HSRL company, the ticket fee would not be common, & it will be seen as expensive & inconvenient.
Yes to anything other than HSRL
srinidhi - 18 November, 2008 - 07:14
Possibility of starting from Majestic?
Vasanth - 18 November, 2008 - 07:45
Majestic is the Transit heart of Bangalore. Is there any chance of starting it by Majetstic. Every locality from Majestic is connected through buses and will be connected by Metro in future where two arm meets.
I feel a line can run parallelly to the existing SBC - Malleshwaram - Yeshwantpur - Yelahanka - Chikkaballapur route. There is space on the sides of SBC -yeshwantpur - Yelahanka route.
Vasanth's suggestion makes me wonder..
Vinay - 18 November, 2008 - 08:54
Further thoughts on the HSRL/BMRCL
Transmogrifier - 17 November, 2008 - 21:49
A quick thought regarding your idea of dedicated additional coaches; one coach is probably more than enough. However, not just on your suggested route, but on every train west of the Baiyappanahalli. East of that, on your suggested route, two coaches per train or as demand (hopefully) climbs, a dedicated train too. The task that remains then is to ensure that coaches remain free of non BIAL travelers. All you need for that is a smart pricing strategy.
Oh yes and we still need to hope for utopia on the determination of all major 'stakeholders' to consider a different option!
Transmogrifier
PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES
Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!