C-train may be the answer to Chandigarh's traffic congestion

H Kishie Singh

The headlines were alarming — “Metro, monorail, skybus all in race….!”

The idea was first brought up 22 years ago. Starting a feasibility study now will only push us behind by 22 years.

The Canadians have a marvellous saying which reflects their culture of making decisions. “Shit or get off the pot”.

The Metro project was put to sleep about four years ago when it was declared impractical.

It demands a debate between experts at the moment before proceeding. The future of Chandigarh is at stake.

So the question is Metro, monorail or skybus?

All three can be shot down!

Skybus. What is that? It’s a double-decker bus. Obviously, that suggestion came from a non-Chandigarian who has never driven on the city roads.

Other than Uttar Marg, Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg and Jan Marg, a double-decker bus will not be able to clear any of the north-south roads with their luxuriant tree coverage.

So much for the skybus. Press the ‘delete’button!

Metro — the technology dates back to 1863. Do we need it in the 21st century? Definitely not!

Metro and monorail need ugly concrete pillars to support the tracks. They will be nothing but another nail in the coffin of Corbusier’s masterpiece!

Visualise hundreds of pillars standing along Madhya Marg from Panchkula to New Chandigarh? Ok! So it will be underground part of the way for the metro. But imagine the years of digging and disruption to normal life. The flavour that is the City Beautiful will be destroyed forever.

The reason for rejecting the Metro project in the first instance was that it was not practical and shelved due to financial constraints.

Chandigarh will have to shell out Rs 1,081 crore annually for the next 25 years! This was what the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) had said in its revised detailed project report (DPR). The total construction cost was Rs14,000 crore.

The DPR had stated that the Metro will not be viable till 2051 due to peak-hour-peak-direction-traffic (PHPDT). In simpler words, 40-70 thousand passengers daily are necessary to support this project. It can be a rerun of the Jaipur project which runs half empty!

In August 2016, a senior UT official had said: “The revised DPR is shocking. We don’t understand how we can bear this cost. We don’t get this much amount for our annual plan in the financial year.”

So why don’t the experts consult the study that has already been carried out? One thing for sure; the cost has escalated. Press ‘delete’ again!

Option three, monorail, also runs on raised tracks which require ugly monstrous concrete pillars.

A cost of Rs 2,500 crore has been mentioned for monorail. No DPR is available. Let’s just press ‘Delete’ again!

So here we are, with no practical options. Great! We start with a clean slate and an open mind.

The answer can be the ‘Caterpillar train’. The inventor, Ashwani Kumar Upadhyaya, won a global competition on innovations at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, Boston.

Ashwani Upadhyaya developed the idea while on a study leave as a PhD scholar at the MIT.

Caterpillar train or the C-train can give a city-wide network of light-weight coaches running on rails suspended on steel poles bent into arches. (See accompanying picture)

Most important, and it could be the only reason for Chandigarh to opt for the C-train. The City Beautiful will be spared of ‘uglyfication’ due to Metro or monorail.

The bent steel poles, grouted into the pavement, require very little space and very little digging. This will present a rather aesthetical and pleasing view and add to the beauty and charm of the city. It may give the city a space-age look and that would be in harmony with Chandigarh’s image and character. A first for Chandigarh, a first for India!

The C-train has small 20-seater light-weight fibre glass coaches. The coaches have wheels on the roof and below so that they can travel above and below the track. Since the coaches are light weight and the poles require little land, the system is capable of penetrating residential areas.

This will be another opportunity for Chandigarh to present a completely new concept of tourism.

One track can loop over Rose Garden and head north along Jan Marg to give the tourists a bird’s-eye view of Capital Complex, Rock Garden, Sukhna Lake. Possibilities are unlimited. The limitations and restrictions are only in the mind.

“The strength of the concept is its simplicity and practicability. Some ideas are good on paper, but not practicable. I guess we won because ours was both!” says Upadhyaya.

Invite him to Chandigarh. He is the expert and he is an Indian.

Regarding the feasibility study of Metro and monorail, I would like to quote Albert Einstein, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.”