Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari: Driverless Pod Taxis To Come Up In Delhi-Haryana Soon :- On Sunday, Union Transport Minister – Nitin Gadkari said that Government will soon implement the ambitious Personal Rapid Transit or Metrino project in the National Capital and in the National Capital Region.
The cost of pilot project will Rs 800 crore. The pilot project will let passengers use India’s first driverless pods – suspended on a ropeway – on a 12.3 km stretch from the Delhi-Haryana border to Badshapur via Rajiv Chowk in Delhi and IFFCO chowk and Sohna Road in Gurgaon.
Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that four initial tenders have been received and it will soon invite financial bids for the implementation of the project.
He said that we are going to implement the Rs. 800-crore pilot project under National Highway Authority of India(NHAI). I had a meeting with Urban Development Minister Venkaiah Naidu and it was finally decided that we can execute it under the NHAI Act.
As per the sources of a ministry official that there will be 13 stations on the route and five people can travel in one pod.
An official said that Four global companies – one from the UAE, one from the USA, one from London which has done work in this regard at the Heathrow airport, and one from Poland have qualified in initial technical bids. Once the highway ministry and the road transport approves it, we will float financial bids.
official explained that we are planning 1,100 pods and the system will be such that if one has to travel from station 1 to 12th, on a specific command that particular pod would reach the 12th station without any halt.
The complete public transport project for travel in driver-less pods suspended on a ropeway in NCR wil cost Rs. 4,000 crore.
The first phase plans connecting the 70-km stretch from Dhaula Kuan(Delhi) to Manesar(Haryana) to decongest NCR and ease traffic.
The ropeway system runs on electricity, and driverless pods come down at designated stations, thus shifting the traffic burden from the already congested roads.
Fully automatic and driverless small pods travel independently suspended over an overhead network usually 5-10 meters above the ground.
A presentation on the project was made before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Cabinet a months ago.
Union Transport Minister – Nitin Gadkari has said that the massive work is under way to reform the face of the highway sector and the pilot project will be one such step in that direction.
