INTEGRATION OF URBAN RAIL AND ROAD BASED TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS IN DELHI

Abstract

Delhi is the most rapidly growing metropolitan area in the country. It had a population of 9.37 million in 1991 which is expected to reach to a figure of 12.18 million by the year 2001 AD. The space occupied by Delhi road network is around 25 % of its urban area. The vehicle population in Delhi is also highest among the four metropolitan cities in India. It has about 10.4% of total vehicles in the country. It is expected that Delhi will be crowded by nearly 40 lacs vehicles by the year 2001 AD. Delhi is the unique city of its size in the world which depends only on urban bus as the mode of mass transportation. The present system of bus transportation is not only insufficient but also responsible for growing use of personalized vehicles. The use of buses on roads has resulted in increasing journey time, longer queues at intersections, increasing accidents on the roads and increase in air and noise pollution. The Ring Railway carries only 3% of urban commuters. At the same time ring railway is' . not fully utilised and there is no proper integration with bus routes. An integrated public transport system "A system which is planned and also marked as one" is thus the preferred option. Integration also means interchange-transferring between bus and Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) to complete journey. In the present study fowtbus routes, namely Route No. 823 (Pragati Maidan to Karampura), Route No. 26 (GTB Nagar to Sewa Nagar Railway Station), Route No. 721 (ISBT to Mangla Puri) and Route No. 503 (Morigate Terminal to Malviya Nagar) are studied. 111 Economic analysis is carried out and it is suggested that frequency of EMU is to be increased and at Tilak Bridge Railway Station, some extra facilities like plateforms are to be extended and F.O.B. is to he provided so that Commuters can use Ring Rail which will be at a distance of about 100 meters in comparison to presently 500 meters from I.T.O. intersection. Provision of these facilities will save the use of number of, buses, reduction in travel time, reduction in vehicle operating cost and society as a whole will be benefited with reduction in congestion, reduction in noise and air pollution and commuters will be able to travel much faster with comfort and safety. The outcome of this study suggests that a major shift will take place from buses and private vehicles to Ring Rail at least for some routes, if proper integration of rail with feeder bus service is provided around ring, railway.