New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath Tuesday said the monorail can be a supplement for the Metro as it can be easily built and can ply in congested areas where Metro corridors cannot be constructed.
"I'm laying more emphasis on monorail, as it can be a supplement of Metro rail network. The medium cities with a population of one to four lakh will benefit with monorail, as it can provide inter-city transport service in congested localities where even buses are difficult to ply," Kamal Nath said.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of a two-day seminar on Indo-Japan Monorail and Light Rail Transit (LRT).
The minister also said that his ministry is looking into developing monorail corridors across the country, as it suits the Indian roads.
"Monorail can be introduced in narrow width roads, which is very India-specific, because it uses only two beams and they can negotiate sharp curves," the minister said.
According to the urban development ministry, monorail has a narrower pillar which measures only 1-1.2 metre in diameter while the same for a metro pillar is 1.5-1.8 metre.
The minister also informed that the Maharashtra government is already constructing two corridors of monorail in Mumbai.
As far as Delhi is concerned, an 11-km corridor has already been identified. Even Tamil Nadu and Kerala have also prepared detailed project reports for monorail.
Participating in the seminar, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit informed that the national capital will get its first monorail network by 2017.
"I hope in next two or three years or definitely by 2017 we will get the first monorail in Delhi," Dikshit said at the inaugural session of the seminar.
"A study was conducted on the feasibility of monorail in the national capital by the Delhi Metro. We have come to a conclusion that 11 km of monorail will ply in east Delhi between Shastri Park and Trilokpuri," she said.
"This is a beginning. We need to identify many more corridors for the monorail. We aim to adopt various pollution free modes of transport whether monorail or tram to cater to the congested areas of the city," Dikshit said.
The first monorail corridor in Delhi will have 12 stations.
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