Dr. E. Sreedharan: “It is a social Need to improve Urban Mobility”.
Traffic congestion has increased dramatically in India. Congestion and the associated slow Urban Mobility can have a huge adverse impact on both the quality of life and the economy. It is indisputable that cities are the engines of economic growth. To realise the full potential of its economy and demography, India must not only look to increase its rate of urbanisation but also enhance the quality of life in existing cities. Today, Indian cities are characterised by increasing levels of congestion, pollution, road fatalities and inequity in access.
It is national policy/strategy/planning to ease the often chaotic traffic in Indian Cities by deploying modern world class standard modes of urban, suburban, interurban and regional public transport. Aim is to improve the Economy and the Living Standards of the People/Population by developing Urban Transport Infrastructure for MOBILITY as a SERVICE (MaaS) boosting socio-economic development for building a strong and prosperous Indian Nation. The government looks to make sustainable urban transport a priority.
In a move to recognise and act upon urban mobility issues, in 2006 the Federal Government of India introduced the National Urban Transport Policy (NUTP), setting the policy framework for providing sustainable mobility for the future. In 2015 the Indian Government unveiled its new plan to upgrade 100 cities into ‘smart cities’ and to ‘renew’ 500 cities. Managing the Urbanization Process is likely to be the single biggest challenge, that will confront Policymakers in India over the next decade.
The fast paced implementation of METRO RAIL in several mega cities has become a main constituent within the governmental transport and traffic policy for urban development.
The rapid success with Metro Rail is owed to the fact, that India has imported the technology from abroad.
Delhi Metro is a Pioneer in METRO RAIL EXPANSION and a Symbol of the Progress, that India has made in the last decade. The leading eminent personality behind this success story is Mr. E. Sreedharan.
With METRO RAIL, the INDIAN URBAN MOBILITY PROBLEMS AND CONSTRAINTS have not yet been solved. The deployment of METRO RAIL is only one step. Other Mobility Measurements with technologies other than Metro Rail have to follow for Transport orientated Developments (TOD). This is nowadays well understood amongst Indian transport experts.
METRO RAIL is investment cost intensive and serves mostly only certain corridors. To make METRO RAIL viable operating economically, it needs affiliated supplements, complements and accessories. FEEDER SYSTEMS and multimodal CONNECTIVTY HUBS link METRO RAIL with the other modes of transport: Railway, Commuter Rail, Light Rail Transits, Bus Rapid Transit, Water Metro, Ropeway and On-Demand Para-Transits, that cover wider areas. “METROLITE”, “METRO ON TYRES”, “METRO NEO”, “WATER METRO”, aerial “ROPEWAY” (“URBAN MOBILITY BY CABLE”), “AUTOMATED PEOPLE MOVER, APM” with “PODCARS”, “PERSONAL RAPID TRANSIT, PRT” with “METRINO”/”SKYTRAN” and “FEEDER/SHUTTLE SERVICES” are the new envisaged affiliated and more cost effective modes and solutions for smaller towns, emerging suburbs and for planed new townships, commuter towns, subdivisions, emerging smart communities, special economic zones (SEZ), techno parks and business centres.
In Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai Commuter Rail with local trains play a significant role for Urban Mobility. Commuter Rail has a far higher transport capacity and runs faster than Metro Rail. Bangalore plans to increase the Commuter Rail Network by 148 km with 57 Stations.
The problems in providing affordable transport for the mass of low income population (Public Transport for All) and with the Freight and Goods Transport in Urban Environment are still unsolved.
Intermediate Para-Transit Services (IPT) are cheap and flexible and not fixed to certain routes. IPT is mostly the backbone of public transport in cities with low income population around the world. Intermediate Para-Transit Services have to be incorporated into the strategic planning for Indian cities.
To read more about feasible transport technologies boosting the socio-economic development,
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