Rope Car an Effective Public Transport for Nagpur City

Introduction

                           Rope Car as itself the name suggest is a Wagon (car) suspended in air hanging on the rope, moves here and there, too and fro, transport commuters, mostly on Hill tops, riverside and ski resort. In India, Chanda Devi, Dongargarh, Lal Ghati (Bhopal) is a place where you can find Rope car. Often commuters traveling on Rope car gets mesmerized with the stunning views of the hill jungles and riverside. They often get thrilled, as nobody wants  to sit in a cabin suspended two hundred feets above ground.:-). Great views, warm sunny days.. does it mean Rope Car is the only way of amusement? …..Absolutely No!

                                    Medellin Colombia, a populous city in Columbia (Central America). Few years back Medellin was suffocating. Large population, crowded Road, only few available transport facilities was a scenario. Government of Colombia during that time not had enough money to raise public transport systems like Metro, Monorail for their congested road, also there were low public investments and yes the space was also not enough. Underground Metro was the solution once suggested, but yes, the money issue gathered cloud over it again….. What about new Road Transport  system? In Medellin, road route. In Medellin Road is almost jam packed and hence there is absolutely absolutely no space left  for introduction of any other Road based public transport system.. Thus Medellin administration were in hunt of solution for their ever-growing commuters and they come up with the miraculous solutions called “MetroCable Ropeway Public Transport System”. After  initial days of cold administration reaction, they ater consider it not only seriously but seen as the only solution of ever-growing commuters of the city..

                                   Initially medellin administration decided to start its Ropeway route to 1.8  km as test trial. It took hardly few months to finish that rope route in 2004 (K line). It took 1/10th of time and money that would have been required to develop Metro route for the same distance. After couple of years successful trial they extended it for 2.7 kilometres and names it as J line. Now medellin Ropeway is spread over 40.7  kilometre and commuting 30,000 commuters a day with over 27 stations on the way.

                                Medellin Ropeway is also known as “Metro cable” (Gondola Project) in Columbia., Details of this  given in separate chapter in this book.

Above is picture is of Medellin Rope cars reaching station built around hilly terrain.

                                Let’s consider India’s situation. India’s Situation is not very different from Columbia, both are developing countries and both having nearly same environment, crowd density and GDP,. Investment. Cost for the public transport infrastructure is big issue here in India as well. India's road density, traffic problem, public transport is similar or we can say somewhere worst than Medellin, so why don't we consider controller here??

India's feasibility for Ropeway Public Transport

                         Every Indian city town lacks public transport system somewhere. Every City / town in india surely cannot afford bulky public transport solution like Metro trains due to the huge cost involved and of course the space availability. Roads are also not in a good shape in india, added significantly in large commutation time and cost. Pollution is another un-focused aspect of such jam packed roads, Hence Ropeway can be seen as efficient and feasible solution of all of this problems. Ropeway has various advantages that surely can prove its feasibility for Indian transport.

Advantages of Ropeway Transport in Indian context

1. Low cost: Ropeway construction involves very less cost as compared to other public transport model.It is estimated that it requires only one tenth of the cost required to build that for Metro Trains. For a country like India where cost is a prominent factor this is notable point (source www.dot / dotkom)
2. Less time for construction: For construction of gondola time requirement is 1/4th to that for other public transport. 1/4th time means less recovery time and thus savings of huge amount of cost and less suffering from such construction activities. Let consider Nagpur’s example Metro is under construction from past 5 years added tremendous suffering and Health Problems to Nagpurians and ofcourse cost hidden behind construction activities and fuel loss due to bad traffic & jam packed roads due to blockage for Metro construction is unexplainable.
3. Less Space: Ropeway transport requires very less space as it moves around gondolas  hanging from Rope. Unlike road and railways which requires ample space for tracks, Ropeway requires only one square metre space for pillars and can be erected at any terrain like fields, mountains, rivers; unlike road & railways which requires only flat surface. Thus Ropeway saves cost of land acquisition and that for preparing it for flatness. Land acquisition from the farmers / flat owners is quite difficult task but in Ropeway case it will be very easy. Also Ropeway can run over the surface where there is no scope left for railways & road due to community or colonies already present there.
4. Through any Terrain: For Ropecar to work there is no need of dedicated To or Railways or any special tracks, Just few pillars are enough to run it,  hence it can be operated through any terrains, including those which are not suitable or is costly for road or railway building. Hilly areas, Swamp areas, River crossing doesn't matter at all when it comes to Ropeway Transport System.
5. Short route: As Ropeway doesn't follows a particular path, which can be zigzag all the way; it follows shortest route between two stations and hence it is faster. Hence no zigzag route and traffic can stop it, ultimately saves cost and Time.
6. Environment Friendly Ropecar runs on motor which directly runs on electricity, hence ropeway is considered to be the cleanest public transport facility available today. As it runs on the single motor, per capita energy for mobility is less as compared to Taxis or Metros. As it runs on single motor solar power can be installed to run it.
7. Lest time for commutation As Ropeway does not follow Road’s zigzag path and It follows the linear distance between two stations,it takes less time than any other traditional way of transport, particularly useful for hilly areas Also there is no chance of getting late in traffic jams, time wastage, etc.
8. Continuous and Regular Service: Service of of Ropeway car is pretty regular. Every station witness arrival of gondola after every 26 seconds (approximately), hence there is no interruption in service and no waiting time & reach out for Taxis and no gathering of crowd at stations.
9. Number of commuters 2000 commuters per one side travel per hour (depends on length of route) is an estimated number of commuters that can travel through Ropeway Transport System per side per hour. It can be 3000 from the Indian point of view, this means Ropecar can handle 6000 computers per hour (two way travel) which is equivalent to 6000 X 18 = 108000 commuters a day per route (for 18 hours of operations) which is excellent figures for any public transport. If we deploy two or three lines across city. number of commuters will be drastically increased consequently decrease in equivalent numbers of commuters from the road thereby reducing crowd and traffic from the road significantly.
10. Splendid Views / Recreational Values: Ropeway travel on heights. It provides splendid views of the city. Thus it has an capability to attract tourist all the way. It has a recreational values. Thus it can generate extra revenue any time.
11. Less Commutation Cost: Ropeway Transport System runs on electricity. It is dependent on single DC motor, hence we can expected that cost of commutation will remain less as compared to other Taxis, Metros etc. Also solar power will make it further more less costly for the middle class or poor section of society if deployed.
12. Low Maintenance Unlike Metro trains, which required upkeep of tracks, cables, coaches, Ropeway system is quite simple and required overall less maintenance.
13. Long Service Year As per study Ropeway system can work efficiently for 30 years without any  Major replacement & overhaul.

Nagpur and Rope Car

Nagpur is now a became Metropolitan city. Nagpur’s population is now reaching 30 lacs. Metro Train is Now introduced in Nagpur. It run criss-cross from the centre of the city “Sitabuldi”. However there are many regions of Nagpur which is densely populated, which are still untouched and at far distance from nearest metro stations. Such regions are Nandanvan, Manewada, dighori etc  It is nearly impossible to run Metro in such areas as there is no space left for construction activities because of density of houses situated in such regions. Also construction activity for 2 years near to such residential areas for a new Metro line is also nearly impossible. But still if connection (Feeder Service) made with such public areas with mass transport like Metro can prove blessings for such areas,. Nagpur region’s length and breadth is 18 by 19 sq kms. Metro train runs criss cross from center (Jhansi Rani sq)  but eliminates regions as shown in map below (Map A). If we run two lines from Jhansi Rani sq  to Gittikhadan (Blue line in Map B) & Jhansi Rani sq to Tajbagh (Blue Line in Map B) of 5 & 4 kilometres then it can act as a feeder service to metro.

MAP A: NAGPUR METRO PLAN

MAP B: ROPEWAY PLAN FOR NAGPUR