Former railway engineers support broad gauge for city146;s metro rail

Around 25 former railway engineers gathered at the Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering IRICEN on Sunday morning to throw their weight behind the adoption of broad gauge BG for the Pune Metro Rail.

Around 25 former railway engineers gathered at the Indian Railway Institute of Civil Engineering IRICEN on Sunday morning to throw their weight behind the adoption of broad gauge BG for the Pune Metro Rail.

8220;We are happy that Vikas Matkari BJP Corporator has agreed to set up a meeting with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation DMRC. We hope that all political parties from Pune will attend the meeting,8221; said Vijay Rane, former managing director of Indian Railway Construction Company, who is pushing for the adoption of broad Gauge policy.

Rane said that in 1853, when the Indian Railways was considering the gauge for the rail networks, it decided on broad gauge taking the country8217;s population growth into consideration.

8220;It was Lord Dalhousie who fought for seven years for India to take up BG, when England itself was on Standard Gauge SG. After all these years, we are thinking of going back to SG,8221; Rane said.

Experts have been arguing that BG can carry more people at a more efficient cost than SG and is better suited for Indian conditions. Retired general manager of Indian Coach Factory B T Bhide said that it was wrong to suggest that metro coaches cannot be made in India. One of the reasons given for using SG coaches in India is that BG metro rail coaches are not made anywhere in the world. Only SG is available. 8220;It is not a question of capacity, it is a question of priority. If they say that metro coaches are a priority then the capability exists in India. The ICF has manufactured metro coaches in the past. The Kolkata metro coaches were made in India. The impression that India does not have the capability to build metro coaches is false,8221; Bhide said.

P V Gole, transport expert and former advisor to Metro Rail Urban Indian Metro Rail project, said, 8220;It is the coach building companies that are pushing for standard gauge,8221; he said.

Meanwhile, Matkari today reiterated that he will set up a meeting of experts with the DMRC. 8220;Because of the accident in the Delhi Metro, it may be delayed. We will know in a day or two,8221; he said.