Commuter Rail starting service soon
Massive step forward yesterday. Bestest meeting ever since we did the report last year so sharing this will all of you who have spent energy & effort in this cause.
Meeting was convened by DULT to discuss the next steps. SWR has agreed to start Commuter rail services on almost all corridors where slots are avilable if GoK can provide a few rakes and a few other things on their shopping list. DULT has asked RITES to do a quick report on the things needed to start the services including sitting with SWR to determine how many rakes, what times slots available, what segments & how many services will run. Apparently new stations cant get done now & we will have to consider it as and when capacity augmentation is taken up.
The detailed DPR wil get pushed back in time to accomodate the execution of this quick win. The detailed DPR will continue to address the long term sustainability & making this a full fledged service with better financial structure more stations, more services etc as originally envisaged. But we are drunk with happiness to think about it now. Too early to celeberate but damned if we all dont have a drink on this, maybe in the train if allowed. Sanjeev has more details as he sat back to complete the MOM with DULT folks.
Special thanks to Prof Sitaram & CiSTUP
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Answers
Like extending Bangarpet passenger to Kengeri or Ramnagar
Yes we brought this up & unfortunately this is the one of the most crowded sements, but he is willing to consider how many of the 5 up-down BWT-SBC can be extended to BID/RMGM. This needs to be worked out & will be a part of the rites report
Even if they are not able to finish the complete study for the long run, I suggest that some pilot runs
They will finish the complete study we are not giving up, and no there will be no pilots as there is nothing to pilot. There needs to be no Pilot, POC, Test, Trial, Sample etc. It is live production quality Commuter rail run. Quick start under SWR now & full fledged service under SPV as phase 2.
Wish to see now CRS running soon and hope to take it too .
Need to see if the YPR-HSRA line can accomodate another up-down during peak hours. The RITES report should consider that. I am thinking this move will be too little to make much difference but the SWR/IR stance & change of heart is the biggest positive to emerge.
Praja-ratna's
Hereby nominating Sathya (aka IDS) and Sanjeev as Praja-Ratna's for the year '11-'12.
Good news
Great guys, good to see a lot of hard work becoming the start of reality.
Deepak
awesome news
Looks like a real big step forward. Persistence pays, and it needs guys like IDS and Sanjeev :)
Thanks to CiSTUP and DULT for all the good work and support.
Commuter Rail starting service soon.
I neither know the team nor I have contributed anything for the cause but I wish to congratulate all the members and the active participants of the team.
extention
Thanks IDS for the affirmative reply. Similarly I would like to extend YPR-HSRA train to Tumkur or Nelamangala. This will get more patronage as say el. city people can go directly beyond yeswantpur. My point is all Suburb-City passenger trains should be extended to Suburb-City-OppositeSuburb. Hope praja will be working closely with this project.
Terrific!
Great to hear this update. Congratulations and kudos to IDS and Sanjeev for their dedicated and tireless effort.
Congratulations Praja!
Indeed, this is an excellent news we have heard since the campaign started. Thanks to the efforts on the ground from IDS, Sanjeev, Srinidhi etc.
It would be interesting to know the factors contributing to 'Change of Hearts' at SWR?
-Syed
Excellent step forward.
Excellent step forward. Congrats to the team (especially to the people that spent the time putting the report together). One year is probably unprecendented in quickness; wonder if the decision is owed to the change of Railways Minister at the Central level ;-)
Here is the chance for GoK to extend the contract with BEML and obtain metro rakes as they are more technologically up-to-date. The other items (signalling, sheds, cleaning?) can follow the namma metro procedures or Delhi metro ones if needed.
In the short-term, more stations can be included with BMTC/KSRTC feeders to the stations (again, similar to metro). At some point, stations can be leased out to GoK who can lease it long-term to private parties (if SWR is not allowed to directly lease out). Longer term, 3-storied tracks, stations (passenger, goods, parking) need to be explored to economically increase capacity manifold. Hopefully, DPR will address all these and not narrowly address just trains, tracks etc.
Shot-in-the-arm
A much needed shot-in-the arm for the doggedly determined NR team... you guys are an inspiration!
----
TM
Congratulations NR Team, DULT
Congratulations NR Team, DULT and CiSTUP. Great going....!!!
Big Step for Commuter Rail Bangalore
Thanks to UDD, IDD & CiSTUP for taking forward Commuter Rail with SWR on 8th June 2011.
Meeting was attended by following :
V Manjula, IAS / Secretary to UDD
Dr Raj Kumar Khatri, IAS / Secretary IDD
Mr Praveen Kumar Pandey / Sr DOM SWR
Prof Sitaram / CiSTUP IISc
Shailender Singh / Sp Officer DULT
RITES representative
Sathya & Sanjeev from PRAJA.
Following segments were agreed by SWR to start the services Yesvantpur - Chikballapur, Yesvantpur - Hosur, Dodballapur - Biyappanahhali, Yesvantpur - Tumkur, Yelahanka - Bangarpet and extending the existing 5 schedules of Bangarpet - Bangalore city EMU rake upto Kengeri / Ramanagar.
Mr Praveen Kumar Pandey / Sr DOM SWR coming out with different approach for Commuter Rail and was ready to take forward the Commuter Rail. He has agreed to start Peak hour services with starting minimum one in the morning and one in the evening to give much needed relief for the Bangalore Traffic.
V Manjula / Secretary to UDD was ensuring that Commuter Rail gets started with followup by RITES doing quick report and followed up by detailed DPR.
When we suggested to extend the existing services running between Bangarpet to City / Cantonment upto Kengeri or Ramanagar. This suggestion was very much accepted by Sr DOM / SWR and he was very much interested to extend this at the earliest so that people who are staying at Kengeri / Bangalore University public can travell comfortably to ITPL / KR Puram.
Hard work by Praja with CiSTUP is taking this forward. Thanks to all the support form the Members of Praja, we are moving ahead firmly on Commuter Rail.
We should get the Commuter Rail to take off at the earliest on identified segments at the earliest once Rakes are made available. This time GoK ensures that amount needed for Rakes are released well in time to SWR.
We feel more and more public should make demand to DRM / SWR to Commuter Rail for Bangalore, so that we get this facility.
Prithvi
I am neither a part of the team nor contributed in this regards. but I wish to congratulate the team. Great work. You have shown that public participation in governance is worth while.
Congrats Team
Congrats team on achieving a Major Mile Stone in introduction of Commuter Rail. There is a saying in Kannada "Hitthalina Gida Maddalla" mean to say Plant in backyard of home is not a medicine. Like that although we have solution in hand for Bangalore Traffic woes rightaway, Government is looking for Elevated highways all across Bangalore attracting more cars, introducing more pollution, resulting in more accidents and deaths when one could travel at the cost of 1/10th with an already existing infrastructure.
Glad to know Prof Sitaram was part of this discussion.
Prof Sitaram hails from our college ( UBDT college of Engg At Davangere).
Ihad met him recently with respect to our Alumni meetings.
Let me meet him to collect more details at CiSTUP.
Thanks,
Bhushan
Results at last !
Hi Sanjeev /Ids,
Glad to hear this - & congrats guys !
CRS was inevitable - there is no other solution to bangalore's suburban travellers with it's traffic woes & the question had only been when since all other options are unviable for one reason or the other. That it happened soon is entirely due to Praja-Cistup's joint efforts that got the authorities to realize this early - something to be proud of.
congrats iDS & Sanjeev
Its the unflinching commitment from the CRS team which has started bearing fruit..hope the words get translated well on the tracks!
Great news
This is wonderful. One thing which needs clarity is "starting soon" -- because in govt parlance, this can mean anything. Any dates that were mentioned in the meeting..?
Great Job.
Great Job Guys. I would like to congrajulate each and every one. Even I would like to participate actively in this activity.
Yelahanka BWT train will be really helpful for me and there are lots of people who come to ITPL from Yelahanka. This train will be a real boon for all of us.
On the other side, we should stree the BMTC to run the feeder bus services with respect to these train timings. This will really help every one to avoid their cars and other vehicles and provide a hassle free journey.
Regards,
SReenivas.
Many IT professionals travell from Yelahanka & near by places
@Sreenivas & Ritesh
Many IT professionals will be travelling from Yelahanka & arround places to ITPL & Outer Ring road near KR Puram.
Its better we give strong representation to SWR Sr DOM & DRM to start the office time DEMU / EMU from Yelahanka to BWT ( Whitefield ) and to BMTC to provide ffeder services at BWT & at Yelahanka.
Commuter Rail MoM of 8th June 2011
MoM of Commuter Rail held at DULT on 8th June 2011. Lets see when will SWR & GoK makes this happen.
Commuter Rail MoM 8th June 2011Looks very promising!
Sanjeev,
The proceedings noted in MOM is certainly promising in terms of seeing the Namma Railu chugging very soon.
Interesting that, SWR has agreed to all the routes suggested in the "Call to Action" report. There is no inhibition or aversion to any routes. Even though at places it says ridership is less. But if the service starts running and people see it regularly, the ridership will grow undoubtedly. Ridership on YH1 is testimony to that effect.
What is more promising is these words from SWR:
"..The DOM, SWR agreed in principal to running the Commuter rail services if Government provides with the EMU/DMU rakes. If provided with the rakes, he assured of running the system in 2 months time. DOM Explaining on implementing the complete network of CRS, a detailed study should identify the infrastructure required in terms of station, tracks, maintenance facilities etc..."
Thank you DULT, SWR for taking this project forward.
-Syed
terminating
In the MoM it says terminating a train at YPR is difficult. I think the thing worth trying is extending the existing Hosur-Yeswantpur YH1 service to Tumkur or Nelamangala. So one train less terminating at YPR and no need of new rake also. This extention is similar to Bangarpet-Bangalore train extention to Kengeri. Similarly Hubli-Bangalore passenger can be extended to Hosur and Mysore-Bangalore passenger trains can be extended to Devanahalli. I think terminating a train is bigger problem than accomodating new train.
Each route requires atleast 4 rakes for 30 min frequency!
Rackstr,
"..So one train less terminating at YPR and no need of new rake also.".
At present YH1 runs only 2 services in a day starting from YPR @ 6:20 AM and 3:35 PM. Basically it is run with 1 rake. Rest of the time it is run on CBP and DBP route.
You are right, if we just are OK with this schedule.
But this is not called commuter rail service. If we are desiring a train on any route every 30 minutes, then at bare minimum we need 4 rakes on each route. Higher the frequency, more no. of rakes it may need.
Terminating is an issue that needs to be resolved in the DPR or whatever the RITES is entrusted with it. There is no escape for CRS on this issue. This issue has to be resolved if an effective CRS is planned and operationalized.
The Hindu - CRS could become a reality!
Source - Namma Metro could have a run for its money - The Hindu
"...Operation of commuter rail on the existing rail network surrounding Bangalore, a long-pending demand, could become a reality soon with the State Government agreeing to fund the acquisition of rail rakes by the Railways.
Congested roads
It has been the demand of commuters, government and non-governmental agencies, trade associations and web communities to run diesel multiple units (DMU) or electrical multiple units (EMU) on the existing rail network to beat the traffic gridlocks on Bangalore's congested roads.
Though the Railways initially did not evince much interest, it later came forward to operate these services if the State Government funds acquisition of DMU/EMU rakes.
Sudhanshu Mani, Divisional Railway Manager, South Western Railway's (SWR) Bangalore Division, toldThe Hinduthough a majority of the lines around Bangalore have already reached saturation stage, the SWR is open to operating commuter rail services if the State Government provides rakes..."
metro cannot substitute commuter rail
While metro is essential for the city, making the metro lines longer and longer is an unsustainable and inefficient public transport provision. The focus should be on capitalizing on existing commuter rail alignments. London, Chicago, New York all have such arrangements too, for those of you not satisfied without some western parallels.
For the full text of the article, click here
Looks like a fairly valid argument.
Very much agreed..
Metro will have lots of stops and the long distance travel to suburbs will be highly time consuming. The cost of construction due to Elevated / Underground corridors are so high, never sustainable as said.
Commuter rail is the right option, we might need little hi-tech commuter rails to make it more attractive with A/C, automatic closing doors etc. Extension of reach 4 from Nayandahalli to Kengeri doesn't make any sense. Commuter rail could have done that job with integration at Nayandahalli.
Case of Whitefield / KR Puram to Bangalore
METRO Vs Commuter Rail Travell Time between ITPL to City Station :
Public Travelling from Whitefield or KR Puram to Bangalore city station beyound, will have less travell time by SWR Trains as they will have few stops and its almost stright line. People going to MG Road or Indiranagar / KG road from ITPL will have METRO advantge.
As the post suggested, METRO will do good job in Innercircle and Commuter Rail will cater to outer circle in big city. Its true to large extent.
Both modes of Transport brings set of advantages and dis-advantages, how both system compliment each other with BMTC makes the Public Transport efficient. This is where our so called planner in B'lore are missing the link, they always think that each one will compet with other.
commuter rail is the need of
commuter rail is the need of the hour. the price of the ticket will be reasonable when compared to Metro. CRS should start as early as possible...politicians should focus on this....and get it done...
Flawed Argument - Commuter Rail Vs Metro
It is a flawed argument to take the discourse to Metro Vs Commuter rail. I afraid we are taking the bait of politics and proponents of metro or against it. I would request at least the praja members not to look at the equation in terms of metro vs commuter. If we did, I am afraid it will become "US and THEM". If that happens then we are the biggest losers.
Hum idhar ke rahi no udhar ke / Na Sanam mile Na visale sanam
(We are neither here nor there / Neither we got our beloved nor beloved's affection)
Both Metro and commuter rail has enough space for itself to cater to. Each one actually supplements the other. Has any one looked at how Metro and CRS compliments each other? If metro as spans out as planned, will definitely serve the commuters inside the city criss-crossing from one end to the other. Where as if CRS is properly implemented could bring commuters from outside of B'lore and take them back. Providing a proper integration between these would serve the commuters better as no commuter section is homogenize. Commuters do need a mix of inner city and outer city commute choice. This is what the promise of multi modal mass transit system is.
What Bengaluru and other major cities in India is multiple modes of mass transit, not just one type of mass transit system.
Definitely Bengaluru's need commuter rail, Monorail as much as Metro, BMTC, Paratransit (Autos/Cabs/Taxis) and Non-motorized transport systems.
Let us not pitch commuter rail against Metro or other mass transit systems. At least Namma Railu team from Praja doesn't envision that way. The team places CRS as complimenting choice than competitive choice.
-Syed
Both systems with other modes are the need of the hour
Both modes of Transport brings set of advantages and dis-advantages, how both system compliment each other with BMTC makes the Public Transport efficient. This is where our so called planner in B'lore are missing the link, they always think that each one will compet with other.
Their is No Competition between each other Metro, Commuter Rail or Mono Rail or BMTC, Auto, Taxi, Cycle. Its how each system is integrated with other systems and made compliment each other for better use for PT. As one system in Public Transport domain can't be successfull unless its complimented each other.
Finally passengers / market will drive which system need to be used for different situations. Like going to chennai, if person is staying near Hosur, for him travelling to Chennai by Taxi / Valvo bus is makes more sense then coming to BIAL. If person staying near Devanhalli / Yelahanka, for him going thru BIAL is much easy.