Bengaluru

Surface Light Rail

Praja RAAG Call to Action
This is a Call to Action report by Praja RAAG for the authorities in Bengaluru to implement
Surface Light Rail along the ORR and arterial corridors crossing the city. This document will
describe the details of how such a system will take Bengaluru transport to the next
generation mitigating congestion along the corridors and facilitating transfers to other
transport systems.

O n B e h a l f o f P r a j a R A A G : S a t h y a S a n k a r a n & S r i n i d h i S a m p a t h

Bengaluru Surface Light Rail

The System

Surface Light Rail an urban form of public transport often using rolling stock
similar to a tramway, but operating primarily along exclusive rights-of-way and
having vehicles capable of operating as a single tramcar or as multiple units
coupled together to form a train.

Several cities have used Light Rail Systems successfully to supplement buses and
clear congestion. More than 390 operational non-tourist tram/Light Rail Systems
are operating in the world currently, including 9 cities in China and 8 in Africa.
The SLR can be a worthwhile addition to the metro and commuter rail being
planned for the city.

SLR can be built along any city street Even if they are crowded narrow etc. the
track can become elevated or go underground if needed making it very flexible.
Light Rail can also share mainline tracks if made on the same guage. Due to this
flexibility cities are considering it to serve pedestrian districts, many cities
worldwide are reporting that transit malls are revitalizing downtown cores.
With the next generation of mobility focusing on walkable cities world wide and
car free streets coming into Bangalore this mode can be a worthwhile option.

Case Studies
Portland MAX light rail
MAX Light Rail, or Metropolitan Area Express, is a light rail system consisting of
four separate lines (Blue, Green, Red, and Yellow lines) serving 87 stations in the
Portland metropolitan area in Oregon.

The system has had an
average weekday
ridership between
115,000 and 130,000
since Fiscal Year 2010.
It is owned and
operated by TriMet and
began service in 1986.
With a total system
length of 52 mi
(83.7 km) MAX runs
about every 15 minutes
or better most of the
day, every day. Service
is less frequent in the
early morning and late evening.

MAX Light Rail stations vary in size, but are generally simple and austere. There
are no faregates or specially segregated areas. Some stations have platforms and
entrance halls, while others are little more than streetcar-style stops. Official
concessionaires sometimes open coffee shops at stations.

Bengaluru Surface Light Rail

MAX uses a proof-of-payment system; riders must carry a valid ticket or pass at
all times. Tickets or passes are purchased before boarding and retained as proof
of payment. Passengers must board the train before the time on ticket or pass
expires, and are allowed to ride past the time on the ticket, provided the train
was boarded before the expiration time. After validation, tickets are valid for 2
hours and passes are valid until end of service day, and can be used an unlimited
number of times, for travel in any direction, on MAX, TriMet buses, Portland
Streetcar, and C-Tran buses.

In parts of the MAX system, MAX trains run on surface streets. Except on the
Portland Transit Mall, trains run in reserved lanes closed to other motorized
vehicles. On the Transit Mall, trains operate on the same lanes as TriMet buses
(although MAX trains have traffic priority). Elsewhere, MAX runs within its own
exclusive right-of-way, in street medians, alongside freeways, and on former
freight railroad lines.

Where the tracks run in a street median, intersections are generally controlled
by traffic signals which give trains preemption. Where the tracks occupy a
completely separate right-of-way, the tracks are protected by automated grade
crossing gates.

Because of Portland's relatively small 200-foot (61 m) downtown blocks, trains
operate with only one or two cars, but as ridership has grown and additional
light rail cars have been acquired, most lines now normally use all two-car trains.

Stockholm Tvarbanan
Tvrbanan is a light rail line in Stockholm, Sweden. Its name literally translated
into English is Crossways line. It links together many bus and rail lines
crossways through its
connections with the
southern, western and
northern subway
branches of the
Stockholm Metro
(Tunnelbanan) and
the Stockholm
commuter rail
(Pendeltg)

Tvrbanan has a
single line with 17
stops. Traffic on
Tvrbanan started in
2000, was used by
around 32,000 passengers per weekday in 2005 and 44,000 per weekday in
2007.

Bengaluru Surface Light Rail

The tramway is separated from roads in most parts, but there are sections where
the tracks run on roads among regular road traffic. In Hammarby sjstad the
trains run in a reservation in the centre of the road rather than in mixed traffic,
but there are level crossings between the electric train line and several streets.

Dublin Luas
Irish for "speed", also promoted in the development stage as the Dublin Light
Rail System, is a tram or light rail system serving Dublin in Ireland.

There are currently
two Luas main lines, it
has 54 stations and
runs 36.5 kilometres
of service track. In
2014, the system
carried 32.4 million
passengers, up 6.2%
from 30.5 million
passengers in 2013.
Trams operate from 05:30 to 00:30 Monday to Friday and starts an hour later on
weekends. Services run at regular intervals, from every 45 minutes during peak
times to every 15 minutes late at night. The Luas is operated by Transdev, under
tender from the Railway Procurement Agency (RPA)

Luas tickets are purple in colour and credit card sized. They bear a magnetic
stripe on the back although this is not used on Luas. Uniquely among Dublin's
public transport, tickets are not checked upon boarding trams and an honour
system, combined with random inspections, is used. Luas tickets are sold at
newsagents and other shops, mostly in the vicinity of Luas stops. Joint Luas and
Dublin Bus tickets can be purchased from Luas vending machines for immediate
use, as well as from Dublin Bus ticket agents. Tickets bought at Dublin Bus agents
must be validated on a bus before being valid for a tram (since Luas does not use
ticket validation systems upon boarding the tram). Tickets cannot be purchased
on board the trams. Smart cards are also used.

Bengaluru Surface Light Rail

Advantages of SLR

1. Buses can share the street and dedicated lanes used by the SLR.
2. Larger capacity than articulated buses, each car can hold 3 times more
people than a bus and 2 to 3 cars can be attached.
3. They can also share mainline standard gauge tracks so off road segments
can be shared with other existing systems.
4. Dual sided door can allow tracks to go on the edges of the road or the
middle and have platforms on either side.
5. Save on building expensive elevated or underground corridors.
6. Runs on electricity and saves on fuel import bill
7. Reduced noise & pollution levels over other surface modes
8. Disabled and senior citizen friendly low floor design
9. Increases Cycling & walking thereby increasing the health benefits to the
society. Some systems allow cycles to be carried in the cars in the rear car.
10. Corresponding upgrade in infrastructure in the surrounding benefits the
neighborhood.

The Proposition

On similar lines, Bengaluru Surface Light Rail (BSLR) needs to be implemented in

Bengaluru. This will utilize low floor air conditioned trams from agencies like
Siemens & Bombardier who make these tram cars. This needs to implemented in
phases.

A pilot project to implement this from Silk board to Hebbal along ORR should be
immediately commissioned and the earlier proposal for BRTS be upgraded to a
SLR proposal instead using the same alignment. Further phases can target the
radial corridors in the city cutting across the city.

Since BSLR is surface rail and buses will share the dedicated infrastructure, it can
be owned & implemented by KSRTC/BMTC. This will allow it to be coupled with
appropriate feeder services. The O&M can be tendered to competent parties with
performance incentives and penalties.