Title - After decades, a step towards commuter rail

Bangalore needs to think beyond road widening to resolve its transportation and traffic problems, according to TG Sitharam, chairman of CiSTUP.The city’s rapid growth has led to myriad problems. Land, because of its finite nature, and water, because of the way in which it is being managed, are two among them.While transport is another issue, solutions are available. The city’s transport solutions lie in sustainability, in moving people and less private vehicles.Yet, civic authorities are going in the opposite direction. “Road widening is not an answer to transportation and traffic problems of the city because it is finite in nature. With the number of vehicles being added on to the roads every day, our roads will not be able to handle the same capacity forever. We need better solutions to move people and to disperse the population from the city centre,” Sitharam said.He was speaking at a seminar on ‘Commuter rail service for the city.’The discussion, held against the backdrop of RITES report submitted to the Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) last month, hopes to ensure that this time, there is progress.Those who spoke at the meeting said the CRS for Bangalore suffered from lack of will.“That commuter rail will have four times the network at one fifth the cost of metro is an obvious reason for the city to have the service, considering that 75% of the work for it already exists. Land acquisition, one of the biggest hurdles for any infrastructure projects, is minimal for commuter service in the city,” said Sanjeev Dyamannavar of Praja RAAG.While the technical execution problems have been met with, CRS has been delayed because of political problems, he said.The government should accept the RITES report, propose it to the railways and start the process of getting a commuter service in terms of techno-economical survey, propose and start the process to form a special purpose vehicle and get the railways to begin additional services on the rakes immediately, Sanjeev said.