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Commuter Rail - Will it really help ?

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Written By Naveen - 29 October, 2008

Bangalore railways CRS SWR Unlock Bangalore Analysis Transportation public transport Mobilicity Commuter rail

As most of us are aware, the track record of suburban railways in the larger Indian cities has been pathetic. Other than Mumbai, there is'nt a single example where such a service has successfully attracted commuters & helped reduce road congestion. Most of them have been total failures.

The Delhi circular rail has been a complete failure & is used more for goods trains. Patronization levels are extremely poor, not to mention their Metro, which has also not fared well, thus far.

Chennai MRTS has been a total flop, but since they have already invested so much, there is no going back & other phases continue to be built, with a hope that revival might be around the corner once connectivity improves with the newer phases.

Hyderabad MMTS was losing about 1 crore each month. Currently, patronage levels are on the rise, probably due to high road congestion levels & also since many may be finding it a useful alternative to reach the newer technology clusters.

Kolkata's extensive suburban rail system includes a circular railway as well as a dedicated rail to connect to the airport. The circular & airport rail services are said to carry passengers numbering in single digits, sometimes. The Kolkata Metro has also not been successful, but all continue to run, since they have been installed.

Thus, investments estimated to cost hugely have tended to be put forward, without considering long-term implications of operating costs, passenger volumes & revenues. Given this abysmal record on cost, construction period lengths & poor traffic, the question is should we be investing in Commuter rail for Bangalore at all ?

To start with, the service would be handicapped with severe route restrictions, confined to only the existing track routes. Unless connectivity with Metro or faster bus services are provided from stations, this service may also end up in the same way.

One can understand why SWR has been so hesitant to get involved with this.

COMMENTS

Thanks for the inputs

Sanjeev - 22 May, 2014 - 05:43

Also Lottegolhallai - Yelahanak too is progressing for completion except GKVK bridge is now half the way for road widening.

Also ORR at MES road,  flyover is nearing completion.  This should helpSWR to speed up more train between Yesavntpur - Chikabanavar and Lottegolhalli - Chikbanavara of  Yesvantpur bypass.

Also Electrification upto Chikbanavar and Yelahanka - Guntakal line, shifting of Tumkur godshed yard to Kayatasandra, Expansion of Bangalore city station with 3.5 acers of  Binny  Mill  land,  more pit lines at Yesvantpur and Baiyyappanahallai, Expansion of Yelahanka station,  many more railway  level crossings thru ROB / RUB. 

Also doubling and Electrification of Bangalore - Mysore line, Nelamanagala - Solur of Hassan nearing completion. 

MEMU maintenance shed at Banaswadi to start.

With entry to Karnataka Capital from  out side is tolled thru Toll Highway,  Suburban Rail / Commuter Rail will give big relief for citizens who wants to use public Transport.

Now will Railways or  GOK  has any more execuses for not doing this Suburban Rail for Bangalore.

 

CRS & Transport Systems - User is Foremost

Naveen - 30 October, 2008 - 05:18

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled" - Richard P Feynman, Physicist, 1918-1988. Suhas, IDS - both of you are very correct. My point is that if a suburban rail network is planned "where land is available", or "on existing tracks", or because it is a "proven technology", it will fail, as it has in various other cities. In the other larger cities, the development of suburban rail systems was more at the whims of politicians in an effort to claim credit & to garner fresh votes, come election time, with no detailed considerations for users - truly in vintage India's socialistic style ! The most appropriate technology is the one that meets the needs of the customers, & one that is shaped with full focus on users. As IDS pointed out, other than Byappanahalli, which is going to be a very large multi-modal center, none of the other CRS stations are well connected & linkages are non-existent, as of now. Malleswaram CRS station will also have an interchange with Metro phase-1. Whitefield, Hebbal & Yelahanka CRS stations might have interchanges during phase-2, but this is too far away. BMTC buses may be the only answer till then, if such is possible & planned well, but land issues for road widening & bus stations are the real obstacles. The remaining CRS stations have very poor transport links with bus since none of the mass transits may pass near them, even in the distant future. Given these facts, will CRS really be effective ? IDS - as regards bus services running parallel to Metro: In some cases, this may be unavoidable over some lengths as Metro runs mostly on the main arterial roads, over which buses will also have to be run. Further, the user types for bus may be different : For example, vendors with large baskets to & from city market /KR Puram - this group is highly bus dependent & this will continue as they would still need to use buses since Metro might not permit them, as I had mentioned elsewhere. A second example is school /college going students & staff - who would perhaps prefer to avoid a transfer & the time penalty involved + higher costs. A third example are the lower rungs of society, such as the deliverymen, the laborers, the factory workers, for whom higher costs are not acceptable for daily or regular commutes, & some delay in reaching their destinations is acceptable. The point here is that the reality in this country is quite different from existing international principles, where there is'nt much of a difference between the Metro user or the bus user. Maybe this is the reason why Delhi metro has not attracted much of a user base, despite it's well marketed image. As such, the targeted Metro users are the office executives, IT professionals, businessmen, students from professional colleges or school goers from higher rungs - the same groups that presently use cars, demand multi-level garages, flyovers & urban expressways. If we have to successfully address our congestion problems, we would have to align our transport systems based on these realities.

duplicated IDS'es point

silkboard - 31 October, 2008 - 03:31

Sorry, I didn't realize that I merely repeated what idontspam has alraedy stated in a comment above.

Wrong approach

srkulhalli - 29 October, 2008 - 17:39

Cleverly worded - but wrong approach. As a city planner the question he should be asking himself is thus - Here is a very cost effective technology, simple and proven, capable of high capacity, efficient and non-polluting. How do I make best use of it to design by City's transport infrastructure ?

Suhas

yelahanka baiyappanahalli rail doubling affected.

Vijay Srinivas - 21 May, 2014 - 18:54

Yelahanka Channasandra line had been completely doubled, and it seemed that it would openafter, say 6 months or so (after testing). But  however, a tunnel construction near yelahanka has damaged the railway lines. The new line is now dangling, and trains crawl at the other line. Wud take atleast 6 months to repair.

Perhaps this is the shortest route from yel to chanasandra. Hope the service is restored soon.

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