Page 66 - Trafficinfratech Magazine Aug - Sept

MASS TRANSPORT

The Future of Mobility:

From Roads to Rails

India’s road traffic has reached a breaking point. In response, the
Indian government has committed itself to expanding local public

transportation. Today there are seven million vehicles in Delhi alone,
including cars and motorized rickshaws — but excluding trucks.
As part of this plan, rail-based transport will play a key role in
inner-city traffic. Siemens has completed a number of key projects.

A taken to In many major cities, all-new metro the Metro Rail Policy, which for the
few measures have
been
lines have been built in record time
first time makes it a national goal
manage the traffic
— over 200 kilometers in Delhi alone
to expand rail based transport as
situation in India. For
and 42 kilometers in Bangalore.
the backbone of interurban traffic.
instance, in Delhi,
trucks may be driven through the An additional 530 kilometers This policy also calls for networking
are currently under construction
various transportation systems. The
city only between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. throughout the country. In August aim is to have rail transport the
However, traffic often comes to a 2017, the Indian government passed majority of passengers, while buses,
standstill during the day, even on
12-lane highways. These traffic jams
cause tremendous loss to India’s
economy, because millions of
people are forced to waste valuable
work time. “The Indian government
has recognized this problem and
is now promoting mobility as
an important component of the
nation’s rapid future development,”
says Amitabh Bhagwat, who is
responsible for turnkey projects at
Siemens in Mumbai. “It believes
that the solution is an expansion
of local public transportation and
a departure from motorized private
transport. It’s crucial to get people
to their workplaces quickly.”
A lot has in fact been
accomplished in the past ten years.

66 August-September ’19 / TrafficInfraTech www.trafficinfratech-com-500653.hostingersite.com