TRANSPORTATION IN DELHI - Future
Options
Dr. P.S. Rana
It is well known fact that
transportation demand increases exponentially with increase in population of a
city. When a city reaches the size of a metropolis or a mega city, not only
the trip rate but the length of each trip also increases. The proportion of
trips that can be undertaken by walking and cycling becomes insignificant and
dependence on motorised modes increases considerably. Delhi has been no
exception.
Since Independence, Delhi has grown from a small administrative city of under
one million to a multi-functional mega city of nearly 10 million. In spite of
such rapid growth in population and travel needs Delhi remains most
unfortunate, among the mega cities of the country, in respect of a high
capacity public mass transport system. The buses are the only means of mass
transportation, carrying about six million passengers per day with an average
trip length of over 14 kms. Due to inadequate public transport capacity the
public has been left to fend for itself, resulting in an enormous growth of
private vehicles particularly, two-wheelers. Today, Delhi accounts for about
12 percent of the total vehicles in the country, which is much higher than the
total number of vehicles in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras put together.
Ironically, Delhi was one of the few cities in the country to have proper
Master Plan to guide and control its development as early as 1961. Its
guiding principle was self-containment of each Planning Division. It had
envisaged about 15 district centres to attain decentralisation and
self-containment to achieve a poly-nodal city. The Plan remained a dream; the
policy envisaged could not be realised in practice as the implementation was
totally divorced from the basic Plan.
On the other hand, detailed studies for a Mass Rail Based Transit System
initiated in the late sixties have been considered beyond its means due to the
high cost of implementation. The latest estimates of a total MRT System is
estimated around Rs. 9,000 to 10,000 crores. Due to non-development of a high
capacity system, the city structure and densities have adjusted itself as far
as possible to the road based modes.
The transportation system has been known to act as a catalyst to dictate the
structure, size, density and development of any city. Rail-based Mass
Transportation System are most energy efficient, reliable, fast and cost
effective for mass movement. Delhi fortunately has a number of radial railway
lines connected by a ring corridor as part of the regional network.
Surface railway corridors within the city boundaries and their extensions into
the NCR and beyond are crucial towards achieving an efficient and reliable
transport system and containing the growth of population within the manageable
limits.
The following steps are strongly recommended in this direction.
1. |
Work could start on the
following major corridors immediately and completed phase-wise: |
|
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Delhi-Panipat-Ambala-Chandigarh |
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Delhi-Khurja-Aligarh |
- |
Delhi-Alwar-Jaipur |
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Delhi-Mathura-Agra |
|
2. |
Integrated rail terminals at
Holambi Kalan, Anand Vihar, Brijwasan to be developed expeditiously |
3. |
Stations along the corridor
outside Delhi Metropolitan area should be developed as independent
townships. |
4. |
Complementary feeder bus
services be started, if there are a number of towns along the corridors. |
5. |
Take traffic management
measures to improve the carrying capacity of arterial roads and reduce
delays. Service lanes along the main arteries should be given high
priority. |
When the number of towns along the
corridors increase and traffic along the corridors increase and traffic builds
up, it would be necessary to segregate the high speed trains from local trains
by providing two pairs of tracks. India has the second largest rail network
and its technology is well proven. By improving the design of EMUs and
upgrading the signalling systems along the routes, we can provide an efficient
and the most cost effective system of transportation in Delhi and its region.
Dr. P.S. Rana has
done his doctorate in Public Transport and was with the planning and R&D
section of Delhi Transport Corporation. He is currently Executive Director,
HUDCO.
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