[raghuram.cg]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

It all boils down to WILL. IMO the best way to decongest ORR is as follows:

1. Develop Heelalige station as a transit point for people residing in E city/Chandapura/Jigni/Bommasandra etc.
2. Operate a DEMU from Hosur to Whitefield. This should be possible as we do not have that many trains plying on this route during the day time
3. BMTC should operate more buses from the above listed areas to Heelalige station. If needed people should be able to park their own vehicles in the station and use the train.

Depending on the office work timings, more DEMU's can be operated.

This will result in decongesting ORR to a great extent.

Certainly - Infact, if the first step (maybe expensive) can be taken by the IT companies, i.e in terms of chartering a DEMU and run it for a month on an experimental basis - we will all know if this really works out or not.
Already, the Hebbal railway station parking lot is full these days, so there are people using - it needs to be popularised

Hopefully someone has the will and try it out
raghu

[Aniket6]

Originally Posted by DragonHawk

As an example just drive to Dharmasthala, Coorg or any places which is famous among Bangaloreans. Irrespective if it is a cab or a private vehicle, you will see the same trait exhibited by them and in some cases I have seen morons on wheels driving his own car put cabbie to shame. They seem to be always in a hurry to reach the destination without even bothering about the safety of the individuals.

I swear this is so true. I see this behavior wherever I go. For example, when all vehicles have lined up at a a railyway crossing (anywhere in K'taka) correctly, some Bangalore registered vehicle will mostly block the road for oncoming traffic once the railway gate opens. Similar observations seen at toll booths, where they try to squeeze in between lines of vehicles waiting for their turn to pay tolls. Funny thing is these people take pride in what they do.

Feels like we are being punished for following rules and being considerate to fellow motorists, but it is always the right thing to do.

[ashwin.terminat]

If only Bangalore Traffic Police introduces something like this!

http://www.ibnlive.com/news/india/re...s-1172347.html

Report violations, earn points, redeem them!

[sandeepmohan]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

Operate a DEMU from Hosur to Whitefield. This should be possible as we do not have that many trains plying on this route during the day time

This is a good route for the railways to consider. Right now, it will require a reversal at Baiyapanahalli for the train to head to Whitefield. It is no bad thing even if it must go to Baiyapanahalli cause it will serve as dual purpose, for those travelling from Heelalige side towards the City, starting point of the metro service at Baiyapanahalli and for those who need to head to Whitefield.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

This is a good route for the railways to consider. Right now, it will require a reversal at Baiyapanahalli for the train to head to Whitefield. It is no bad thing even if it must go to Baiyapanahalli cause it will serve as dual purpose, for those travelling from Heelalige side towards the City, starting point of the metro service at Baiyapanahalli and for those who need to head to Whitefield.

Likewise for Manyata tech park. If you see the image below, there is scope for developing a railway station in the blue box region.
Already we have passenger trains from Yesvantpur to Hosur / Bangalore to Dharmapuri plying on this route. There are quite a number of employees residing in South Bangalore who work in Manyata Tech park. This proposal can be thought of by the govt.

[nambiarshreyas]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

1. Develop Heelalige station as a transit point for people residing in E city/Chandapura/Jigni/Bommasandra etc.

Looks like there were some talks on similar lines last year and Infosys was one of the frontrunners pushing for this to happen, with the Electronics City association also offering to take care of the maintenance of the station. Wonder what happened to all of that.

Source

[ampere]

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

By alternative, you mean the elevated road?

Yes. By alternative I mean they had a simpler option to just make a road. Rail would also have added to it.

There are always conflicts between the state and the centre. I still feel the existing Devanahalli line can be put to good use and they should build a branch line to the airport. With just 6 trains running on it daily and a not a single train on Sunday, the line is essentially rotting.

Agreed. But the current line does not go through the central part of the city once beyond KR Puram. But what ever is available should be used.

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

It all boils down to WILL. IMO the best way to decongest ORR is as follows:

Its not just about will alone. Its also about practicality of the solution. On high level paper and pen it may look well as we see it. But we dont know what it translates to at the next level of detail.

Where the "will" is needed to to do the due diligence a feasibility analysis of the solution which shows up in front.

[binand]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

2. Operate a DEMU from Hosur to Whitefield.

Originally Posted by sandeepmohan

Right now, it will require a reversal at Baiyapanahalli for the train to head to Whitefield.

The whole point of using EMU/MEMU/DEMU for commuter trains is that they don't need reversals, and can quickly accelerate/decelerate.

[Rajeevraj]

Interesting discussions on the Surburban Rail (Or Namma Railu as it has been called).

Here is a nice PDF report that summarizes most things related to the suburban rail: CommuterRail.pdf

Overall Summary of current status

• The Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) had been tasked with the preparation of a Detailed Project Report (DPR) in October 2013 (This is after several years of discussion).
  
• 18 months and 8 crores later RITES finally got the report ready in May this year.
  
• This was submitted to the Department of Urban Land Transport (DULT) in May.
  
• DULT officials sent the report to all stakeholders including Railways, BMRCL and the Ministry of Urban Development. However, no further step was taken by DULT.
  
• Basically everyone has been sitting on it since then. No one is showing any clear inclination to take it forward.

So all these discussions we are doing on stations/trains etc.. have been done and dusted many times. So the future of this looks very bleak. :(


Additional Source: Deccan Herald

[NPV]

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Interesting discussions on the Surburban Rail (Or Namma Railu as it has been called).

Here is a nice PDF report that summarizes most things related to the suburban rail:

Good find and thanks for sharing
There is one slide/page in the pdf that stands out and says:

Transportation is not a technical problem. It is not an infrastructure problem. It is not even a financial problem.
Most often it is a political problem

[Nempuguru]

This may be introduced in other metros as well in near future, including Bangalore.

Odd and even number vehicles to be allowed in Delhi on alternate days: Odd and even number vehicles to be allowed in Delhi on alternate days from January 1.

The Delhi government decision is aimed at curbing pollution in the national capital.

The National Green Tribunal had recently slammed the Delhi government for not acting "seriously" on mounting pollution problem. The NGT had also directed the Delhi government to issue a notification within a week listing the most polluted areas in the city.

In seven out of 10 monitoring stations of the Central Pollution Control Board across Delhi, PM 2.5 was found to be the major pollutant. The permissible limit for PM 2.5 is 60 micro grams per cubic metre, which the court was referring to.

In fact, the Delhi high court had even said that the current air pollution levels in the national capital had reached "alarming" proportions and that living in the city was like "living in a gas chamber"

More details are awaited

[ashwin.terminat]

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

This may be introduced in other metros as well in near future, including Bangalore.

I remember reading that this scheme had backfired in some city, can't recollect which right now.

Here's an example of how it can actually increase pollution.

They claim that people will buy cheap, inefficient cars with opposing numbers to combat this issue.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/20...-air-pollution

Pollution will reduce only if we are more stringent on the pollution control tests. I see that PUC test centers are barely bothered about running the test correctly. They are more concerned about the money that comes with the test than the pollution itself. These are mere workarounds that will eventually collapse within itself.

[joslicx]

Originally Posted by ashwin.terminat

I remember reading that this scheme had backfired in some city, can't recollect which right now.

Here's an example of how it can actually increase pollution.

They claim that people will buy cheap, inefficient cars with opposing numbers to combat this issue.

Source: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/20...-air-pollution

Pollution will reduce only if we are more stringent on the pollution control tests. I see that PUC test centers are barely bothered about running the test correctly. They are more concerned about the money that comes with the test than the pollution itself. These are mere workarounds that will eventually collapse within itself.

Athens is the city where it had backfired horribly. Its an old city with lot of narrow lanes. People bought 2/3 cars and it increased congestion horribly as well.

I think govt should first provide 24/7 power so that nobody needs to run generators. I would argue gensets produce more pollution than private cars actually. Here there are days when our society runs generators for more than 8 hours in a day! Also govt can go solar in all its offices and also encourage private offices to go solar. these are much better measures than what Delhi govt has done.

[vinjosep]

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

This may be introduced in other metros as well in near future, including Bangalore.

What's next? Only gents allowed on the road on even days and ladies on odd days?

Make the pollution control stringent and the pollution will drop by half. My favorite example of how this is to be managed is Germany where private firms provide valid pollution certificates without diluting the law. Here have seen certificates being issued by "mobile" centres that themselves would be an epic fail if tested for pollution.

Many of the right-lane-hugging trucks on B'lore roads spew smoke screens that will be the envy of many a military unit for sure. Goes for both the light, medium & heavy duty trucks. And don't even get me started on the auto-rickshaws, 2-wheeled contraptions that has probably never seen a service center in the last decade, let alone PUC.

Sigh </rant>

Btw, the pollution can be reduced by coming up with such new crazy ideas every month such that by the time people come up with ideas to circumvent them, the Govt. moves on to a new fad...

[guyfrmblr]

Originally Posted by suresh_gs

1. Develop Heelalige station as a transit point for people residing in E city/Chandapura/Jigni/Bommasandra etc.
2. Operate a DEMU from Hosur to Whitefield. This should be possible as we do not have that many trains plying on this route during the day time
3. BMTC should operate more buses from the above listed areas to Heelalige station. If needed people should be able to park their own vehicles in the station and use the train.

As you have rightly pointed out, there is a lot of potential to convert this station as a transit point. It's just that railways has to introduce DEMUs on this route and build some parking space on the unused land around he station. BMTC has already introduced quite few number of connecting buses (3F series) to this station from places like Jigani, Anekal, E-City, etc last year. The 3F series are quite frequent between Chandpura and Dommasandra. Earlier the only buses which were plying on this route were to villages Ramasagara, Narayanaghatta from K.R.Market and Majestic.