Deccan Herald, pic by Dayanand Kukkaje 
 
Mangalore, Aug 25: Our cities are overcrowding. As a result, most of them are opting one or the other Mass Rapid Transport System (MRTS) to solve their traffic problems. After the Metro rail in Mumbai and Chennai and the underground rail in Delhi, its now the turn of ‘Sky Bus’.

The Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) has proposed to the Konkan Railway Corporation to implement Sky Bus in Mangalore city. The idea of ‘Sky Bus’ is an intellectual property of former Konkan Railway Managing Director Rajaram, who has patented the technology.

K K Gokhale, managing director of Konkan Railway speaking on the Sky Bus Project at
KCCI Exim Facilitation centre here on Thursday 

On Thursday, Aug 24, a power point presentation of Sky Bus Project was held by K K Gokhale, managing director of Konkan Railway at the KCCI Exim Facilitation centre.

Though there are similar means of transport in countries like Germany and Japan, the one that is developed by Konkan Railway and been implemented in Goa on an experimental basis is purely an indigenous idea and thus an Indian contribution to the world. The cost of implementing the system will be around Rs 55 crore.

The ‘Sky Bus’ does not run on wheels like the normal trains, but are suspended from a bridge 8 to 10 metres above the ground. One bus consists of two completely air conditioned coaches made of stainless steel and FRP polycarbon and can carry upto 400 passengers at a time as per the Indian standards. Passengers can board the Sky Bus from ‘Sky stations’ built at a height, the access to which will be regulated by punching cards. The wide door of the sky bus facilitates easy boarding in 15 seconds. As the Sky buses are not on top of wheels, the centre of gravity comes down making it safer than metro rail.

Also two buses never collide with each other even if the signals are by passed as the rod on which the bus is suspended is longer than the bus and in case, two buses come near, the rods will come to contact first stopping further movement of the buses.

Besides there is facility to link one bus to a parallel bus in case rapid evacuation of a bus is needed. Neither traffic jam, nor floods can affect the sky bus transport. In case of winds stronger than 200 km per hour, the transport will stop.

Sky buses can accelerate very fast and cover 15 kilometers in 15-18 minutes. With discussions on the project too gaining momentum, Mangaloreans have a reason to dream of a Sky Bus journey in the near future.