[sustran] Re: Article in Guardian Newspaper

[Debi Goenka]

Hi Alan

Yes, that is the Skybus I was referring to. I understand that it is now
going to be built in Kochi (Cochin) and we should soon know how successful
it is.

There are some advantages over light rail though the costs may be comparable
(the Indian costs however for light rail seem to be about 40-60% higher).
The advantages are -

1. can follow road alignments
2. lower heights for commuters to access
3. no risks of derailment
4. the space on top of the tracks can be used as a pedestrian walkway/cycle
track/ etc.
5. no displacement of people

Anyway, if it works, it might take care of a lot of problems.

We are keeping our fingers crossed.

Is there any website on the Wuppertal monorail?

Cheers

Debi




----- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Patrick Howes" <APHOWES at dm.gov.ae>
To: <sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org>
Sent: Saturday, March 29, 2003 1:05 PM
Subject: [sustran] Re: Article in Guardian Newspaper


OK Debi, I take it you are talking about Skybus as at
http://www.konkanrailway.com/website/ehtm/sky_bus.htm

Interesting - but it appears that this is not even yet at prototype stage -
more of a "pipe dream". And Wuppertal, Germany, has had a suspended
"monorail" for about 100 years!

>From the description of Skybus on the website, I see no immediate reason why
it should be substantially cheaper than an elevated VAL system. (Véhicule
Automatique Legère - French - see
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/lille_val/ which gives another
explanation for the acronym.)

The Skybus webpage quotes US$10m per km as a cost - but does not really
quantify this figure, and until a prototype has been built and shown to work
any cost estimate must be treated with a lot of caution.

Having said that, if India could "home-grow" its own light rail technology
and make it work, then good luck!


--
Alan P Howes, Special Transport Advisor,
     Dubai Municipality Public Transport Department
aphowes at dm.gov.ae
http://www.dubaipublictransport.ae/
Tel:    +971 4 286 1616 ext 214
Mobile: +971 50 5989661


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Debi Goenka [mailto:debi at beag.net]
> Sent: Sat, 29 March, 2003 05:50
> To: sustran-discuss at jca.ax.apc.org
> Cc: gh7 at york.ac.uk; Matoff, Tom; vuchic; Francis Vanek;
> Ritjavakhtar at aol.com; oeyvind.espe at ps.ge.com
> Subject: [sustran] Re: Article in Guardian Newspaper
>
>
> Hi folks
>
> I tend to agree with Eric.
>
> There are also now options such as the Skybus metro, which do
> not involve
> any displacement at all, and which, whilst not as cheap as
> bus lanes on
> existing roads, are much cheaper than metros.
>
> (Incidentally, how does one fix a cost/value for bus lanes on existing
> roads?)
>
> Cheers
>
> Debi