Thursday, May 29, 2008
Monday, March 24, 2008
Do we ignore the Jet’s screams?
Have we become so engrossed or so immune to the noise pollution created by the existing city airport?
My sleep every night is in 3 phases:
Phase I : 11 pm – 1 :45 am – until Lufthansa’s 747 takes off
Phase II: 2:00 am – 3:30 am – Air France Heavy Takes off
Phase III: 3:30 am – 7:00 am – British Airways 747 takes off
It is virtually impossible to sleep through these phases. I stay a good ten kilometres away from the airport, and it is still loud as ever. I also happen to be in the take off path – westwards.
As a city we have located a good lot of housing and business areas along this flight path and right next to the airport. I can imagine BPO Employees asking their clients to go on hold each time a plane takes off – and with 350 landings per day it’s about 350 unhappy customers!
Recently I went for meeting at a new office, just past the HAL airport. It is an IT park with a huge workforce and a lot of the top CMM Level 5 companies – and almost every 5 minutes you have to pause your conversation to close the ears!
Blame the airport or blame the planners – it’s too late to move the people. When an airport is planned, so is the area around it. Clearly some laws have been violated. On the contrary with retail space in Bangalore being so valuable – it isn’t feasible to not allow people to settle down.
I am sure once this airport moves, a lot of Bangloreans will sleep soundly and immediate level of “bad night’s sleep grumpiness” should come down.
Let this be a thought to those who oppose the move to switch airports.
Lastly, let us not ignore this important lesson. Let BIAPPA not allow buildings and residential complexes – legally or illegally – come up within the final approach/take off path. Other cities like London have regulations on night landings – why must we be less deprived of this comfort?
My sleep every night is in 3 phases:
Phase I : 11 pm – 1 :45 am – until Lufthansa’s 747 takes off
Phase II: 2:00 am – 3:30 am – Air France Heavy Takes off
Phase III: 3:30 am – 7:00 am – British Airways 747 takes off
It is virtually impossible to sleep through these phases. I stay a good ten kilometres away from the airport, and it is still loud as ever. I also happen to be in the take off path – westwards.
As a city we have located a good lot of housing and business areas along this flight path and right next to the airport. I can imagine BPO Employees asking their clients to go on hold each time a plane takes off – and with 350 landings per day it’s about 350 unhappy customers!
Recently I went for meeting at a new office, just past the HAL airport. It is an IT park with a huge workforce and a lot of the top CMM Level 5 companies – and almost every 5 minutes you have to pause your conversation to close the ears!
Blame the airport or blame the planners – it’s too late to move the people. When an airport is planned, so is the area around it. Clearly some laws have been violated. On the contrary with retail space in Bangalore being so valuable – it isn’t feasible to not allow people to settle down.
I am sure once this airport moves, a lot of Bangloreans will sleep soundly and immediate level of “bad night’s sleep grumpiness” should come down.
Let this be a thought to those who oppose the move to switch airports.
Lastly, let us not ignore this important lesson. Let BIAPPA not allow buildings and residential complexes – legally or illegally – come up within the final approach/take off path. Other cities like London have regulations on night landings – why must we be less deprived of this comfort?
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Where did the Mono Rail go?
Airport Connectivity Part III
Do you remember those many days that the metro came to a halt because of the Mono Rail? Do you remember how Mr Deve Gowda was wooing for it? It costs almost ¼ the per kilometre investment as opposed to Metro.
Do you remember the Malaysian firm that even offered to build the entire Metro/Mono rail project without any financial investment by the government? They even committed for a tighter schedule. Why doesn’t the government keep a little visiting cards book, that can have the contacts of these people?
As I saw it, Monorail can only carry up to 20,000 passengers per hour, while Metro can carry more than 40,000. Understandably the need for planning ahead, and futuristic thinking justifies the metro.
Now, why don’t we use the Mono Rail for the Airport Link from BRV grounds?
The airport is designed right now to handle up to 3000 passengers per hours, and with full capacity can handle up to 16,000 passengers per hour. So by statistics and simple logic, the mono rail should be an option that can run over a very long period of time and not be saturated of its capacity.
The Mono rail costs ¼ the cost of the proposed metro, takes a LOT less time to build, is a lot easier in navigating sharp turns ad requires substantially lest land acquisition. The train can run on the median, left or right of the road, depending on where NHAI wants to build its proposed elevated corridor.
This project can be completed in a year, and can have state-of-the-art facilities to compliment the airport. It will be completed well in advance of the metro – in fact so much that we can sleep over the link BRV station and the Metro Station for a while.
Surely this must be a viable option...
Do you remember those many days that the metro came to a halt because of the Mono Rail? Do you remember how Mr Deve Gowda was wooing for it? It costs almost ¼ the per kilometre investment as opposed to Metro.
Do you remember the Malaysian firm that even offered to build the entire Metro/Mono rail project without any financial investment by the government? They even committed for a tighter schedule. Why doesn’t the government keep a little visiting cards book, that can have the contacts of these people?
As I saw it, Monorail can only carry up to 20,000 passengers per hour, while Metro can carry more than 40,000. Understandably the need for planning ahead, and futuristic thinking justifies the metro.
Now, why don’t we use the Mono Rail for the Airport Link from BRV grounds?
The airport is designed right now to handle up to 3000 passengers per hours, and with full capacity can handle up to 16,000 passengers per hour. So by statistics and simple logic, the mono rail should be an option that can run over a very long period of time and not be saturated of its capacity.
The Mono rail costs ¼ the cost of the proposed metro, takes a LOT less time to build, is a lot easier in navigating sharp turns ad requires substantially lest land acquisition. The train can run on the median, left or right of the road, depending on where NHAI wants to build its proposed elevated corridor.
This project can be completed in a year, and can have state-of-the-art facilities to compliment the airport. It will be completed well in advance of the metro – in fact so much that we can sleep over the link BRV station and the Metro Station for a while.
Surely this must be a viable option...
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Don’t wait for the train, build the station
Another solution to Airport Connectivity Woes
Its pleasing and too see the future plans of the railway in the pipeline, but I guess the real test is to implement it.
This new high speed railway is scheduled to be operational by 2011, and will cover the distance of 35 kilometres from M G Road to the new airport in just less than 20 minutes. It is equable with other such models such as the Heathrow or Gatwick Express. The new train will have a station at B R V Grounds right on M G Road. This will in turn be connected/compliment the Metro Rail station.
So why do we wait for the railway to come up? We should build the station right away. Instead of the train run busses every 10 minutes.
Let the station be a rapid transit centre for all air travellers. Based over many levels there could be ample parking, and the check-in facility. Ticketing offices could compliment this centre, making it one step closer to the airport.
The platform, could have a road temporarily instead of tracks and the low floor Volvos could start here.
While arriving, there could be prepaid taxis and auto stands (run by KSTDC if they please), hotel bookings, tourist info and all other amenities. In fact if we planned it well enought, passengers should be able to check-in thier baggage untill the station from thier origin.
The only difference between the stations now and then is the bus opposed to train.
I have noticed that in India, many of us are hesitant to taking a bus to catch a plan. We either insist on sitting in the back seat of the car, or bring dropped meters away from the check-in desks. Maybe because air travel until now was more “premium” than other modes. But logically a air-conditioned bus, with WiFi and a helper should be a equally premium option, and more viable and cheaper!
In all airports that I have travelled outside India (Heathrow, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Chaleroi...), the bus seems to be the quickest, easiest and cheapest way into town. And many people use it. If we followed the same theory here it would help us ease a lot of congestion.
We need some initiative, private participation, and public co-operation to address the urgent issues. It is disappointing across India to see the first model PPP s not being operational due to connectivity woes. Someone’s been sleeping, and we just blame the operator!
Its pleasing and too see the future plans of the railway in the pipeline, but I guess the real test is to implement it.
This new high speed railway is scheduled to be operational by 2011, and will cover the distance of 35 kilometres from M G Road to the new airport in just less than 20 minutes. It is equable with other such models such as the Heathrow or Gatwick Express. The new train will have a station at B R V Grounds right on M G Road. This will in turn be connected/compliment the Metro Rail station.
So why do we wait for the railway to come up? We should build the station right away. Instead of the train run busses every 10 minutes.
Let the station be a rapid transit centre for all air travellers. Based over many levels there could be ample parking, and the check-in facility. Ticketing offices could compliment this centre, making it one step closer to the airport.
The platform, could have a road temporarily instead of tracks and the low floor Volvos could start here.
While arriving, there could be prepaid taxis and auto stands (run by KSTDC if they please), hotel bookings, tourist info and all other amenities. In fact if we planned it well enought, passengers should be able to check-in thier baggage untill the station from thier origin.
The only difference between the stations now and then is the bus opposed to train.
I have noticed that in India, many of us are hesitant to taking a bus to catch a plan. We either insist on sitting in the back seat of the car, or bring dropped meters away from the check-in desks. Maybe because air travel until now was more “premium” than other modes. But logically a air-conditioned bus, with WiFi and a helper should be a equally premium option, and more viable and cheaper!
In all airports that I have travelled outside India (Heathrow, Edinburgh, East Midlands, Chaleroi...), the bus seems to be the quickest, easiest and cheapest way into town. And many people use it. If we followed the same theory here it would help us ease a lot of congestion.
We need some initiative, private participation, and public co-operation to address the urgent issues. It is disappointing across India to see the first model PPP s not being operational due to connectivity woes. Someone’s been sleeping, and we just blame the operator!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Blinded by long term goals
Tuesday, 11 March 2008
Narayan Gopalan
Airport Connectivity Part II
Sometimes our urge to find long term solutions, seems to neglect solutions that staring at us with incredulity. The solution is not to create a long term solution but to craft a short term solution that can be extended to become a long term one.
For instance the Bangalore Airport Rail Link – this S.P.V (Special Purpose Vehicle) aims to build an elevated high speed rail link taking travellers to the airport in just 15 minutes from the city centre. Sounds phenomenal, would be ideal and what more can one want! But this SPV is spending almost one and half the times the cost of the airport, and taking twice the time it took the build the airport. This 3500 crore 3 year project (on paper) has not even begun! In fact we can’t even find the money. We got 300 crores from BIAL – and another paltry 30 from the centre – we still got 3260 to go!
If I took a train today from Bangalore station I could travel to up to 4 kilometres shy of the airport. Why did we ignore the existing track that leads us to the station of Chikkajalla barely a kilometre from the trumpet interchange? All we had to lay was a 4kilometer track and maybe spruce up cantonment station to go with the looks of BIAL – and on this corridor maybe run a few spare coaches of the golden chariot! It might not be high speed – but it would save you a good 45 minutes over road! And this can even be done government style – in a last minute saving grace moment! Even the Chennai Shatabdi could make a call at the airport on its way! By all means build your 3500 crore railway, but why ignore this short term option?
Yes it is a remarkable feat; we will build 7 underpasses in just over a month. And, yes, the ride will be signal free. Bangalore has developed this style of coming up with just one extravagant solution and channelling the entire audience through it till it bursts. Is just one solution enough to cater to a 11.5 million passenger capacity airport?
Why did we not consider and develop alternative routes. Why didn’t we make the entire journey from Silk Board Junction to the Airport non-stop via the Ring Road? How about widening roads that approach the ring road through the city? There lies a road that connects Hoskote to Devannahalli – why not widen and diverge the Truck Traffic to and from Hyderabad onto that? The easier solution seems to be making one road sparkle and turn a blind eye in other directions.
There lies one solution – but it involves us and not the government for a change! We can make this journey hassle free if we all just smiled! Yes the journey is arduous, and the sun will bloom down upon us. But, If we all pledged not to swear, drove in our respective lanes and maybe just smiled at every face that we meet - wouldn’t it be the most peaceful journey ever made? This could be India’s most friendly road! And what a great impression we can leave on anyone departing or arriving?
I pledge, for the period of the journey from home to the airport, I will not swear at other erring drivers, I will waive to the exhausted policemen, thank the volunteering traffic warden and maybe crack a joke to those willing to hear at the frozen traffic jams!
Let us again vent our frustration in the right direction at the right moment and not at our fellow citizen. Good things comes to those who wait, hence we shall – but not quietly!
Narayan Gopalan
Airport Connectivity Part II
Sometimes our urge to find long term solutions, seems to neglect solutions that staring at us with incredulity. The solution is not to create a long term solution but to craft a short term solution that can be extended to become a long term one.
For instance the Bangalore Airport Rail Link – this S.P.V (Special Purpose Vehicle) aims to build an elevated high speed rail link taking travellers to the airport in just 15 minutes from the city centre. Sounds phenomenal, would be ideal and what more can one want! But this SPV is spending almost one and half the times the cost of the airport, and taking twice the time it took the build the airport. This 3500 crore 3 year project (on paper) has not even begun! In fact we can’t even find the money. We got 300 crores from BIAL – and another paltry 30 from the centre – we still got 3260 to go!
If I took a train today from Bangalore station I could travel to up to 4 kilometres shy of the airport. Why did we ignore the existing track that leads us to the station of Chikkajalla barely a kilometre from the trumpet interchange? All we had to lay was a 4kilometer track and maybe spruce up cantonment station to go with the looks of BIAL – and on this corridor maybe run a few spare coaches of the golden chariot! It might not be high speed – but it would save you a good 45 minutes over road! And this can even be done government style – in a last minute saving grace moment! Even the Chennai Shatabdi could make a call at the airport on its way! By all means build your 3500 crore railway, but why ignore this short term option?
Yes it is a remarkable feat; we will build 7 underpasses in just over a month. And, yes, the ride will be signal free. Bangalore has developed this style of coming up with just one extravagant solution and channelling the entire audience through it till it bursts. Is just one solution enough to cater to a 11.5 million passenger capacity airport?
Why did we not consider and develop alternative routes. Why didn’t we make the entire journey from Silk Board Junction to the Airport non-stop via the Ring Road? How about widening roads that approach the ring road through the city? There lies a road that connects Hoskote to Devannahalli – why not widen and diverge the Truck Traffic to and from Hyderabad onto that? The easier solution seems to be making one road sparkle and turn a blind eye in other directions.
There lies one solution – but it involves us and not the government for a change! We can make this journey hassle free if we all just smiled! Yes the journey is arduous, and the sun will bloom down upon us. But, If we all pledged not to swear, drove in our respective lanes and maybe just smiled at every face that we meet - wouldn’t it be the most peaceful journey ever made? This could be India’s most friendly road! And what a great impression we can leave on anyone departing or arriving?
I pledge, for the period of the journey from home to the airport, I will not swear at other erring drivers, I will waive to the exhausted policemen, thank the volunteering traffic warden and maybe crack a joke to those willing to hear at the frozen traffic jams!
Let us again vent our frustration in the right direction at the right moment and not at our fellow citizen. Good things comes to those who wait, hence we shall – but not quietly!
In Response
In response...
Airport Connectivity Part I
Thank you all for your reactions and arguments on the last topic (Airport Connectivity Part I). I think we all inherently understand that retaining the HAL airport will do us no good in the long run. But again, why must we as citizens pay for something we do not deserve?
Well, I came up with 2 solutions I hope will be explored sometime:-
1. Push the opening of the airport by a month and use this time constructively and not to catch up on the sleep we missed out on. Fill every pothole, widen all roads and complete the underpasses. And may the government find means of compensation for BIAL for its loss. But do remember Governments money is your contribution. You as a citizen have to pay to keep HAL Airport Open for every day after April 1st.
2. A long shot but anyway. Let the two enemies HAL and BIAL join hands and run the existing airport. The agreement doesn’t allow for another airport within a 150 km radius but that can be changed if the airport is run by the same authority. Let BIAL define what planes are allowed to land at the city airport. Let the revenue be shared and for heaven’s sake lets upgrade this existing airport.
HAL is a defence sector unit – why must it run a passenger airport? I am sure if we took this burden off them they can find ways of assembling more Sukhois or maybe even step up the production of A320 doors! This way they can get revenue from what they are supposed to be experts at. Is HAL scared that it’s going to run at a loss if stops getting its 600 crores from the airport? HAL could still get a fee for leasing out the land, and also get revenue from the ATC charges. Since a lot of Aprons can now be de-commissioned, HAL can surely expand its Jaguar Assembly line or event set up a MRO service for further profits.
We don’t need a highly research oriented defence PSU wasting its time moving people’s luggage.
Airport Connectivity Part I
Thank you all for your reactions and arguments on the last topic (Airport Connectivity Part I). I think we all inherently understand that retaining the HAL airport will do us no good in the long run. But again, why must we as citizens pay for something we do not deserve?
Well, I came up with 2 solutions I hope will be explored sometime:-
1. Push the opening of the airport by a month and use this time constructively and not to catch up on the sleep we missed out on. Fill every pothole, widen all roads and complete the underpasses. And may the government find means of compensation for BIAL for its loss. But do remember Governments money is your contribution. You as a citizen have to pay to keep HAL Airport Open for every day after April 1st.
2. A long shot but anyway. Let the two enemies HAL and BIAL join hands and run the existing airport. The agreement doesn’t allow for another airport within a 150 km radius but that can be changed if the airport is run by the same authority. Let BIAL define what planes are allowed to land at the city airport. Let the revenue be shared and for heaven’s sake lets upgrade this existing airport.
HAL is a defence sector unit – why must it run a passenger airport? I am sure if we took this burden off them they can find ways of assembling more Sukhois or maybe even step up the production of A320 doors! This way they can get revenue from what they are supposed to be experts at. Is HAL scared that it’s going to run at a loss if stops getting its 600 crores from the airport? HAL could still get a fee for leasing out the land, and also get revenue from the ATC charges. Since a lot of Aprons can now be de-commissioned, HAL can surely expand its Jaguar Assembly line or event set up a MRO service for further profits.
We don’t need a highly research oriented defence PSU wasting its time moving people’s luggage.
Monday, March 10, 2008
Airport Connectivity Part I
It is disappointing to see such a negative and pessimistic approach to the new Bengaluru International Airport. For years we Bangloreans have demanded a new airport, and often blaming lack of development, growth of the city/state due to lack of air connectivity.
Finally the government made way for a ne w airport and we have been rewarded with a large, modern and state of the art airport to meet growing requirements. Where can such an airport be built? One cannot expect a 4500 acre plot to be available on M.G Road. A piece of land so large can only be found beyond city limits. So may it be in any direction - someone has to travel a distance too far.
When a consortium has invested 2500 crores in a project, providing us with what we asked for, how can we as a city rob them of their returns? How can future investors trust a city if it doesn't stick to its commitments? Does an on-time delivery of a project valued millions, deserve a punishment? What example do we set for other such projects? BIAL is not the last project that is going to come to this city. We need a lot more such amenities.
The government has slept soundly for the past few years but then so did we. Why didn't I, you and others rise to this issue of connectivity earlier? Yes we have day jobs, night jobs and often burn the midnight oil, but if we have time to crib now, why didn't we find time then? I know it's not our fault – but hey we elected the government! We all were sleeping while we were denied of what was promised by them.
Yes, many of us will suffer to get to the airport. Let us not suffer quietly – let us relive our suffering by screaming out our frustration towards those responsible for it. Let them know we are watching and analyzing their moves. Let us – citizens, media and NGOs - track with a hawk's eye every road, underpass, flyover, train and bus we are promised. Let us not stop venting our frustration until the problem is solved.
Retaining the old airport is not a solution; it is virtually a disaster to the growth of Bangalore. It will dent Bangalore's image, stop further projects and rob the people of a prosperous future.
Short term solutions prove to be distractions rather than long term solutions, distractions purposed at putting our screams to sleep. But then we awaken to go down the very same bumpy road again.
Our screams for connectivity have proved of use as we see new methods, solutions and promises. I plead, let us not stop screaming, but bear the load until it is resolved!
Finally the government made way for a ne w airport and we have been rewarded with a large, modern and state of the art airport to meet growing requirements. Where can such an airport be built? One cannot expect a 4500 acre plot to be available on M.G Road. A piece of land so large can only be found beyond city limits. So may it be in any direction - someone has to travel a distance too far.
When a consortium has invested 2500 crores in a project, providing us with what we asked for, how can we as a city rob them of their returns? How can future investors trust a city if it doesn't stick to its commitments? Does an on-time delivery of a project valued millions, deserve a punishment? What example do we set for other such projects? BIAL is not the last project that is going to come to this city. We need a lot more such amenities.
The government has slept soundly for the past few years but then so did we. Why didn't I, you and others rise to this issue of connectivity earlier? Yes we have day jobs, night jobs and often burn the midnight oil, but if we have time to crib now, why didn't we find time then? I know it's not our fault – but hey we elected the government! We all were sleeping while we were denied of what was promised by them.
Yes, many of us will suffer to get to the airport. Let us not suffer quietly – let us relive our suffering by screaming out our frustration towards those responsible for it. Let them know we are watching and analyzing their moves. Let us – citizens, media and NGOs - track with a hawk's eye every road, underpass, flyover, train and bus we are promised. Let us not stop venting our frustration until the problem is solved.
Retaining the old airport is not a solution; it is virtually a disaster to the growth of Bangalore. It will dent Bangalore's image, stop further projects and rob the people of a prosperous future.
Short term solutions prove to be distractions rather than long term solutions, distractions purposed at putting our screams to sleep. But then we awaken to go down the very same bumpy road again.
Our screams for connectivity have proved of use as we see new methods, solutions and promises. I plead, let us not stop screaming, but bear the load until it is resolved!
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