By Shudip Talukdar
New Delhi, Jan 13 (IANS): The Sky Bus as a mode of transport in South Asian countries had so impressed Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, then prime minister of Malaysia, that he offered Rs.2,000 crore (over $322 million) as an outright grant to finance the project in Hyderabad.

Unfortunately, then prime minister Manmohan Singh, to whom Badawi had made the offer in a letter dated Sep 18, 2006, did not respond, paving the way for the promising project's gradual demise, B. Rajaram, former managing director of Konkan Railway, told IANS from Herendon in the US.

Badawi had also mentioned his choice of Hyderabad because of its long association with Rajaram, who had designed and developed the Sky Bus, regarded as one of the most iconic symbols of Indian engineering skills.

Significantly, then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had allocated Rs.500 crore for the Sky Bus project in Goa, on the basis of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam's recommendation as his principal scientific advisor, to support "the initiative to redefine metro technology".

"Kalam and fellow scientists of the likes of Anil Kakodkar and P. Ramarao, examined me, before being convinced of the Sky Bus' utility and viability on scientific grounds," said Rajaram.

Unfortunately, the allocation remained only on paper, because of the machinations of the import lobby, alleged Rajaram. The railway board even officially forbade him from speaking about the Sky Bus, he added.

The Railway Board also refused permission for special purpose vehicle (SPV) with the government of Goa, which wanted the Sky Bus done in collaboration with Konkan Railway, said Rajaram.

SPV is a legal entity created to fulfill specific or temporary objectives.

Later Rajaram, in one of his private audiences with Kalam, recalled the latter's admission of being frustrated by Manmohan Singh's indifference to his suggestions as a scientist.

The American Society of Engineers, World Intellectual Property Office in Geneva, as well as tough tests by the US Patent Office, certified Sky Bus as a novel invention, said Rajaram.

The technology still remains the most cost-effective alternative to the Metro rail at Rs.60-75 crore per route km, as compared to Rs.215 crore for the Metro overland line and Rs.400 crore for the underground Metro, according to Rajaram.

Rajaram had built the first Sky Bus prototype in only 90 days at a cost of Rs.7 crore raised from corporate entities and at zero cost to the railways.

He had showcased the Sky Bus as a concept for the very first time at the World Transport Forum in Bologna in Italy in 1989.

He proposed suspension of wheels from rails placed at the top, rather than at the bottom, which would harness gravity to bind the wheels even more firmly to the tracks, eliminating the risk of derailment and capsizing of coaches.

The concept stood thoroughly vindicated when the Sky Bus did not derail or capsize, even while negotiating a sharp bend at high speed, during a test run Sep 25, 2004 in Madgaon in Goa.

This kind of an extreme impact would have derailed coaches on conventional tracks, resulting in heavy casualties, pointed out Rajaram.

However, one person, standing near the door, died when he fell and hit the concrete base metres below. An overzealous operator's failure to apply brakes around the curve caused the mishap, according to an inquiry report.

On Oct 15, 2003, the railway minister, unveiling the Sky Bus prototype outside Madgaon station, proposed a grant of Rs.50 crore for the construction of a 1.6 km test track.

But the Railway Board's dilly-dallying in releasing funds, delayed the project until February 2004. The amount finally came from Konkan Railway coffers in March, after a nod from the president of India and railway board clearance.

The pilot project, under the first phase, would have linked Mapusa with Panaji, over a stretch of 10.5 km. But the Sky Bus prototype was scrapped last year.

"So much for our attitudes to technology. Our younger generations will doggedly keep inspecting, washing trains, laying tracks, look for safe retirement - that is the role model we enforce," Rajaram said.