LAHORE| Metro Bus System MBS | Infrastructure | U/C

[UnitedPakistan]

Originally Posted by NewYork-wala

125-140 Rupees is higher then what we pay in New York... I mean thats like $2.50 per ride compared with $1.50 here in NY! People consider that expensive for a train ride in NY, but in Lahore it would way to much!

If they cant make it much much cheaper, the project will be a complete failure... I hope they dont proceed unless they can resolve this issue somehow, because it seems like a waste otherwise if majority cant afford the system.

You fail to mention that the metro cards need at least 4 dollars put on them that will get you one round trip on the subway.

[Sikandar]

Originally Posted by Edwardes

Will the Lahore Metro be a profit making scheme or just a city service? Most metros in the west are NOT profit making is that true?

Yes that's true.. I think almost all transportation systems in the West lose money.. but technically the services they provide can save the city tons of money in the long run. Just the pollution they take out of the city ALONE has so many benefits.. most importantly of course being the health of citizens. Also, taking cars off the road, speeding up commercial traffic.. millions if not billions of dollars in saved efficiency over time.

[siamu maharaj]

Originally Posted by Sikandar

Yes that's true.. I think almost all transportation systems in the West lose money.. but technically the services they provide can save the city tons of money in the long run. Just the pollution they take out of the city ALONE has so many benefits.. most importantly of course being the health of citizens. Also, taking cars off the road, speeding up commercial traffic.. millions if not billions of dollars in saved efficiency over time.

What about the private-run metros? Are they subsidized?

[NewYork-wala]

Originally Posted by UnitedPakistan

You fail to mention that the metro cards need at least 4 dollars put on them that will get you one round trip on the subway.

Thats true... But there are different kinds of metro cards, usually use the 20 dollar one.. As remember, and I havent used the train in a while, they charge about 2 dollars or something like that on top of it... But as far as I remmebr, you actually got one extra ride one way.
You can also get the all day pass, which allows you to take as many rides as you want etc... So the MTA has some good deals, but you have to get the more expensive cards to make it worth it... But then you can use that card over and over.

[oogabooga]

Originally Posted by Umais

What about the private-run metros? Are they subsidized?

Only country I know of that has privately owned Metro's is Japan! And the Hong Kong Metro has other sources of income besides fare collected from passengers, they are invsted in real estate and are one of the most successful metro's in the world.

[siamu maharaj]

Originally Posted by oogabooga

Only country I know of that has privately ownder Metro's is Japan! And the Hong Kong Metro has other sources of income besides fare collected from passengers, they are invsted in real estate and are one of the most successful metro's in the world.

Oh. Coz of Japan, I always thought there were privately-owned Metros in other countries, too. I mean major Metros in Western countries.

[oogabooga]

Originally Posted by Umais

Oh. Coz of Japan, I always thought there were privately-owned Metros in other countries, too. I mean major Metros in Western countries.

I dont know of any, but then I dont know many things.

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable would be so kind as to shed some light?

[silal]

Some public transportation in the US is also privately owned such as the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority in Boston. http://www.mbta.com/

The idea behind private transportation companies is that it reduces the stress on the city/local government and reduces inefficiencies. However, on the other hand, private companies are often unwilling to expand in areas which is not profitable hence providing limited coverage.

[safe_blood]

Lahore Rapid Mass Transit Rail Project
August 20, 2007


Owais Mughal

Last month there have been several news items about the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) Rail project. We have tried to gather key information from many of these news items and will present it in the following as one concise post on the topic.

The proposed rail service is the main part of the Lahore Mass Transit System (LRMTS). Other components of this project include the now under construction Lahore Ring Road Project.


The Photo above shows the Route Map of LRMT Phase I - Green Line

The LRMT is a Two-phase, 97 kilometes long project. A Hong Kong based company called MVA Asia Consultancy was hired the government of Punjab as consultants to prepare the project feasibility. The study of MVA Asia Consultancy completed 5% of project design and proposed four Rail lines in the city to share the traffic burden. The proposed capacity of LRMT is going to be able to move 35000 passengers per hour in the city. Funding for the project will be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).


PHASE I:
In Phase-I two tracks will be constructed. One will be a North-South route called the Green Line and other will be a East-West route called the Orange Line.

Green Line:

Green Line is going to cost US $2.4 billion to construct.

The Green Line would extend from Shahdara to Hamza Town via Ravi Road, Lower Mall, Mall Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Qartaba Chowk and Ferozepur Road areas.


The Photo above shows the Route Map of LRMT Phase I - Green Line

The length of Green Line is going to be 27 km. 11.6 km long Green Line route would be underground, while 15.4 km long would be overhead.

There will be 12 underground and 10 overhead stations built on the Green Line route.

The completion dates of ‘Green Line’ is in 2011. Initially the project was supposed to finish in 2012 but due to Cricket World Cup od 2012 wher Lahore will be hosting few matches, the Green Line completion date has been pulled in to 2011. Initial estimates are that 227,000 people annually would benefit from the Green line.

In March 2007, Punjab Government invited Dr E. Sreedharan who is the managing director of successfully operating Delhi Metro Rail. After studying the project details Dr Sreedharan has declared Green Line Project as a viable one. He has inspected the first priority line’s route from Shahdara to Hamza Town. In his view, the implementation of the Green Line project (Phase I) would face no major technical difficulty because the soil condition en route was good and roads were wide, having room for underground construction without creating any serious inconvenience to the city.

Orange Line:

Orange Line is going to cost US $1.9 billion.

Its route would extend from Pakistan Mint to Sabzazar via Shahnur, Awan Town, Hinjarwal, Niaz Beg, Canal View, Wahdat Road, Ali Town, Salahuddin Road, Bund Road, Islam Park, Dera Gujjran Depot, Mahmood Booti, Salamatpura, Samanabad, Gulshan Ravi, Chauburji, Lake Road, Lakshami Chowk, Railway Station, Sultanpura, UET, Baghbanpura and Shalimar Garden areas.

The length of Orange Line would also be 27-km out of which, 6.9 km long tracks would be underground, while 20.2 km-long would be overhead upon which six underground and 20 overhead stations would be established.

The central interchange station of Green and Orange lines would also be established besides linking these lines at Ring Road, railway station, airport, and Sports City.

The completion dates of ‘Orange Line’ is in 2015. Initial estimates are that 245,000 people annually would benefit from the Orange Train.

PHASE II:

The completion year for phase II is 2020.

In Phase-II, two more tracks will be laid out. These routes will be called Blue Line and Purple Line.

Blue Line:

The route length of blue line is going to be 24 km. The ‘Blue Line’ will start from Chauburji and end at College Road, sources said, adding that from Chauburji the line would pass through Mozang Chungi, Shadman Chowk, Jail Road, Mian Boulevard Gulberg, Mian Boulevard Garden Town, Faisal Town and end at College Road.

Purple Line:

The route length of Purple line is going to be 19 km. Purple line would start from Bhaati Chowk and end at Allama Iqbal International Airport. The line would pass through Bhaati Chowk, Brandreth Road, Railway Station, Allama Iqbal Road, Dharampura, Ghazi Road and end at Allama Iqbal International Airport

The Train Capacity:

One unit of air-conditioned train will have the seating capacity of 500 passengers.

Stations:

Train stations on the elevated route would be designed like overhead bridges while train stations on the underground route would have two entranceways and two exits.

Environmental Concerns?

Just like with every Mega project, voices of dissent have started appearing for the project where people have shown concern for environment and noise levels of elevated trains. Dawn’s editorial on Jult 12, 2007 covers these voices very concisely and I’ll quite the editorial here:

The first two lines will cost $3.3 billion. In real terms, the cost of the project is yet to be worked out. Surely, notes of dissent are expected to start pouring in. The economists are going to question the heavy debt the project will incur for the government and the citizens, while the opposition politicians are most definitely going to give their own colour to these lines and the sabza group may soon be out to enumerate the effects of this development on Lahore’s environment. Some of these points may be very valid and should elicit a thoughtful response from the government. There can be no moving ahead without this exercise. The sooner this essential exercise is carried out the better it would be for everyone.

Noise: I couldn’t find the details on expected noise levels around elevated portions of the track but noise is definitely going to travel far and away if sound barriers are not constructed around the tracks. More than normal decibels of noise are already witnessed around Pakistan Railway’s elevated track which runs from Lahore Station to Badami Bagh.

Previous Light Rail Studies or Projects:

The current project is definitely not the first attempt to build a rail based mass transit for Lahore. In 1991 during Nawaz Sharif’s termas prime minister, the feasibility of a light rail transit system was determined by Japanese development organisation (JICA). It had proposed a 13 kilometre long system. The study was reviewed and updated as part of the World Bank funded “Lahore traffic and transport studies” in 1993.

The system’s cost was estimated at about US $400 million, but with better network coverage. In 1995 Japan proposed financing the original scheme with grants and loans of about US $495 million, but the project could not be implemented due to many reasons.

Fares: Back in July 2007, it was reported in Daily Times that Passengers of the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) would be charged Rs 125 to Rs 140 to travel from one end to the other of the 27 kilometre-long Green Line.

“Sources associated with the project told Daily Times on Thursday that this (Rs 125-Rs 140) one-side fare had been calculated after taking into account the rendered $2.5 billion cost of the project, which is expected to be completed by 2011. Sources said that to pay back the loan likely to be incurred on the LRMT project, the government would have to charge high fares from the passengers. Currently, the public transport fare from Kahna to Shahdara is between Rs 20 to 25. By 2011, it would rise between Rs 25 and Rs 30. They said that to charge a passenger of the LRMT Rs 30 for a one-side visit, the government would have to give a subsidy of at least Rs 100 per person, which was not possible for the government.

While Rs 140 one way fare indeed looks ridiculous right now, passengers may end up paying much more than road transport. The benefiit however will be ease of travel, no traffic jams and hopefully a strict adherence to time table.

Hope: Many years ago I took a course in Engineering Economics. I still remember one sentence from my text book. It read as:


“All mega projects should be built as soon as possible after their design is done and funding is secured otherwise opposition to the project grows on POLITICAL basis.”

When we look around the mega projects of Pakistan, it appears so true. If big projecs are not started quickly they never will because somebody will always find a reason to do politics on the issue. In the end we sincerely hope the project sees the light of the day and does not end like the one in works for Karachi (called KMTP/KCR) for the past 33 years. Lets all hope for the best and we will continue to add updates on this project in the comments section below.

References

(1) Metroblogging Lahore
(2) Dawn Editorial of July 12, 2007
(3) The News, February 26, 2006
(4) MVA Consultancy
(5) Business Recorder Edition of June 10, 2007
(6) The Daily Times Edition of March 14, 2006
(7) ZeeNews edition of March 5, 2007
(8) Lahore Signs Light Rail MoU: September 1, 2002.
(9) Daily Times Edition of July 7, 2007

LINK
http://pakistaniat.com/2007/08/20/la...-rail-project/

[Jsultan]

great details.... i certainly hope so that this project gets a go ahead on asap basis....

btw.. i read that the formal ground breaking of the project will be done in sept. 07 after that the construction will start in full swing.. they are in process of building 2 warehouses for the project at the moment somewhere near the starting point i.e. shahdra...!!

[safe_blood]

i think warehouses are allready completed at shahdara and hamza town, construction is to begin very soon, sometime in september. lets hope they dnt let us down this time.

[Jsultan]

i certainly hope so... lets keep our fingers crossed..!!

[X-entric]

Soil Survey begins for mass transit train

By Mansab Dogar

LAHORE: As part of its nine month long survey to analyse soil quality for construction of tunnels for the proposed Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT), a French company SISTRA has completed a survey of 27 out of the 90 points, Daily Times was told on Wednesday.

Officials said the soil samples had been sent to France for analysis and the decision about the type of tunnels would be taken on the basis of the results.

Transport Secretary Agha Nadeem said the provincial government would start the construction of basic infrastructure for the LRMT by October 2007, adding that the commencement of work depended upon the findings of soil analysis tests.

French Company SISTRA had hired local geologists to carry out the survey and soil samples were being analysed at local and international geological laboratories, Nadeem said.

He said the survey would help in deciding as to what kind of foundations, underground stations, underground walls and pillars should be constructed.

The Punjab government was planning to construct Green Lane, Orange Lane, Purple Lane and Blue Lane for the LRMT. The contract for the design of Green Lane that will be constructed in the first phase was given to the SISTRA. The Green Lane will have 22 stations, including 12 underground stations and it will cost Rs 200 billion. A 27-killometres long railway track from Shahdara to Hamza Town will be constructed in the first phase of the project, including 12 kilometres of the elevated track from Hamza Town to Model Town, while the remaining track from Model Town to Data Darbar will be underground that will pass through Ferozepur Road, Fatima Jinnah Road and The Mall.

The Orange Lane will start from the Lahore Railways Station and end at Thokar Niaz Baig and it will pass through Mcleod Road, the GPO, Chauburji, Multan Road and GT Road. The system has the capacity to carry 30,000 commuters in an hour. The project will be completed by 2011.



http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp...-8-2007_pg13_3

[Jsultan]

cool....

[zees]

there must be a station at Yadgar chowk (Ravi road), so that tourists can catch the train from Regal chowk.

Question: From Yadgar chowk to Regal chowk (will it be underground)

[Jsultan]

it has to be as there is not much space for the elevated tranck to be built in that area... so many congusted buildings and roads.. it seems unlikely for elevated track...

[transistorized]

Originally Posted by Jsultan

it has to be as there is not much space for the elevated tranck to be built in that area... so many congusted buildings and roads.. it seems unlikely for elevated track...

No, the eastern side (including that MP) stop is elevated, while the western side is underground. These details are listed on the first page

[KB]

LAHORE, Sept 9: The Asian Development Bank has reportedly agreed to also fund the estimated $2 billion second line of the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit System Network covering 26.6km from Thoker Niaz Beg to Mehmood Booti via Multan Road.

“The bank has conveyed to also fund the second line of the rail service which we are planning on the pattern of a similar facility in New Delhi. It (ADB) has already committed to fund the main line form Shahdara to Ferozepur Road’s Hamza Town costing an estimated $2.5 billion,” official sources informed Dawn here on Sunday.

They said the loan would be advanced on easy terms in view of the viability and importance of the project.

They also said spadework for the first main line was near completion and the process of acquisition of land for it would be started in a week or two. As a result, the work on the construction of the depot (main station) would be started by the end of this month or early next month, they added.

They said the geo-technical investigations had also been started on this main line and tests were being conducted at four places near Shahdara and other parts of the city to be covered by the route.

The first line will cover 27km area from Shahdara to Hamza Chowk via Ravi Road, Bhatti Chowk, Lower Mall, The Mall, Queen’s Road, Mozang Chungi and Ferozepur Road. It will have 15.4km elevated and 11.6km underground railway line. There will be 10 elevated and 12 underground stations.

The second line will cover 26.6km area from Thoker Niaz Beg to Mehmood Booti near Pakistan Mint via Multan Road, Chauburji, Lake Road, Lakshmi Chowk, Railway Station, GT Road and Shalamar Gardens. It will have 21.5km elevated and 5.1 underground railway line. There will be 20 elevated and six underground stations.

[KB]

finally.

[musiddiqui]

great news