Dharamsala to have skyway transport facility

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 9

To increase the tourist inflow, the state government has decided to start skyway transport facility in Dharamsala. An agreement was signed by the Himachal Pradesh Government with Sky Way Technology Corporation of Belarus in Delhi.

Urban Development and Town & Country Planning Minister Sudhir Sharma in a release here today said the facility would be started in three years. He said Dharamsala would be the first town of the state to provide the transport facility at reasonable rates.

He said the facility would be developed in two phases in the radius of 15 kilometres in Dharamsala. In the first phase, 8 km-long air way would be constructed for which the work would start in three months, whereas the remaining work would be completed in the second phase. Sharma said a train-like bogie with a capacity of six passengers would run at a speed of 50 km per hour and the passenger would have to spend Rs 60 for travelling a distance of 15 km and 20,000 passengers would be able to take benefit of the sky-way travel facility daily.

This facility would be cheap and safe. This was an accident-free transport service and there would be no impact of earthquake on it as well.

The minister said Rs 38 crore would be spent on developing one km sky-way. The facility would not only benefit the tourists, but also the locals. The people would also be able to transport their goods through this facility.

About skyway

• Skyway is an elevated light-rail transportation system with suspended carbon-fibre cars moving at high speed on steel rails. The technology is ideal for the hilly terrain, where train, metro and monorail are not practical.

Accident-free service 

• A train-like bogie with a capacity of six passengers will run at a speed of 50 km per hour
• Passengers will have to spend Rs 60 for travelling a distance of 15 km 20,000 passengers will take benefit of the facility daily
• This is an accident-free transport service