What will it be for Indore: Monorail or Metro?

With a new government in charge of Madhya Pradesh’s future, officials debate over the appropriate transit system for Indore and Bhopal.

After the recent win of Congress over BJP in Madhya Pradesh, the already much speculated over metro project for Indore and Bhopal has once again come under scrutiny. The new state government suggests that the existing metro projects are a tad too expensive for the state’s financial condition and is hoping to bring in the less expensive version of the same, aka, Monorail.

The MP government is currently speculating which mode of transportation would be better for the cities and has put a hold on the metro. Though a blessing for Indore’s public transportation system, the estimated cost of the metro projects would have been 7,500 crore for Indore and 6,941 crore for Bhopal.

What exactly is a Monorail ?

Mono Rail is a Light Rapid Transit System that runs on a single rail track and uses guide wheels to move along the track. Though, unlike the Metro rail system, Monorail is not a Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS), which means that a metro carries more passengers than a monorail. MRTS have a passenger capacity of 5000-8000 passengers per hour per direction while LRTS have a capacity of 1500-2000 passengers per hour per direction. Typically a MRTS costs around 200 Cr/Km while a LRTS costs around 80 Cr/Km.

In simpler terms, a monorail will cost less than half as much as a metro rail but would also carry four times less the passengers. Monorail system is already operational in Mumbai and countries like US and Japan.

Let’s see what the MP government decides for Indore.