Traffic chaos may hasten Bangalore monorail project

With traffic woes in Bangalore getting worse by the day, the proposed monorail project for the city may be put on fast-track.

This emerged at a meeting Home Minister K J George today had with civic agencies and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on how to address traffic problems accentuated in recent times by the rains and roads full of potholes.

He discussed the measures to be taken with senior officials of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Bangalore Metropolitan Region Development Authority (BMRDA) and BMRCL.

"A booklet has been given to them (the civic agencies and BMRCL) on how to rectify the problems," George said, adding, they have been asked to give an action taken report after 45 days. The minister strongly vouched for the monorail project, saying it's the only solution, along with Metro rail, to ease the traffic congestion in Bangalore.

Implementation of the metro rail line is in progress in the city while not much headway has been made vis-a-vis monorail project, proposed a couple of years ago as a feeder service to metro. He said a meeting would be convened under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to discuss short- and long-term measures to meet problems arising out of exploding traffic and monorail project.

The measures include speeding up of road-widening projects, construction of flyovers and grade separators and desilting of shoulder and stormwater drains.

A detailed project report on the monorail project is already on the table. The government recently announced that comprehensive development of 100 km of arterial and sub-arterial roads would be taken up at a cost of Rs 300 crore, while Rs 500 crore would be provided for construction of grade separators at important critical junctions and a grade separator near K R Puram bridge.

The government has done a feasibility study for suburban rail system connecting Bangalore to Tumkur and Ramanagaram, among others. A special purpose vehicle would be set up for implementing the project, expected to cost Rs 8,759 crore.