Capital may think about these options

Metro tracks cannot be built in every nook and corner of the city owing to variety of reasons

Let us accept it. Metro tracks cannot be built in every nook and corner of the city owing to a variety of reasons - congested localities and Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains (Amendment and Validation) Act, 2010, just to names two.

As per the Act, new construction is prohibited within 100 metres of a protected monument and there are restrictions on construction within 100 to 300 metres. Such restrictions are bound to create a problem in the city strewn with hundreds of protected monuments as was evident in November 2011 when the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) issued a stop-work notice to Delhi Metro Rail Corporation on the proposed Central Secretariat-Kashmere Gate section at Janpath.

Monorail is one solution
So what are the options? Experts believe that rail-based transport systems like monorail and Light Rail Transit System in Delhi should be the available options. In fact, the Delhi Cabinet last month gave in-principle approval for the monorail connectivity between Shastri Park Metro Station and Trilokpuri, via Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi.

“Fast and pollution-free elevated intercity new mode of transport Mono Rail has also been recommended as a mass transit in Master Plan Delhi (MPD) 2021. Besides having less noise as compared to other systems, it will also be aesthetically attractive,” Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had announced. Monorail will be a realty in Delhi by 2017, she added.

Proposed route
According to a government official, it has been decided that the route will start from Shastri Park Metro Station passing through Yamuna Pushta Road, Rajaram Kohli Marg, Geeta Colony, Patparganj Road, Nirman Vihar Metro Station at Vikas Marg, Ganesh Nagar, New Patparganj Road, Sanjay Lake to terminate parallel with proposed Trilokpuri Metro Station.

Many stations
The total route length of 10.8 kilometre will have 12 stations — Shastri Park, Kailash Nagar, Gandhi Nagar, Taj Enclave, Geeta Colony, Guru Angad Nagar, Scope Tower, Ganesh Nagar, Mother Diary, Patparganj, Kotla and Trilokpuri. The route will integrate with three Delhi Metro lines – Shastri Park Metro station on Dilshad Garden to Rithala line, Nirman Vihar Metro station on Anand Vihar to Dwarka line and Trilokpuri Metro station on Mukundpur to Yamuna Vihar under-construction line and provide inter-change facility.

“It is expected that initially monorail in east Delhi will have a daily ridership of around 1.5 lakh. The elevated monorail will supplement the existing intercity transport mode, including Delhi Metro,” said the official.

Light rail transit system
Besides Mono Rail, the Delhi Government has also proposed to construct three corridors of Light Rail Transit, covering a 45-km length in Phase 1. The feasibility study for all the corridors has been completed.

Light rail transit
It’s a low-cost, low-axle load, eco-friendly, electrically-propelled system with no pollution and low noise and vibrations; can negotiate sharp bends up to 25 metres, minimising need for property acquisition.
* Better than Metro: It uses typically less-massive equipment and infrastructure than that used in Metro rail
* Ideal for urban space: It is ideal for urban environment as it needs less space to be set up
* More capacity: More number of people can use it during rush hours to go from one place to another quickly