India’s first automated transport system in offing

Public transport system in Punjab will never be the same with the introduction of eco-friendly and carbon positive vehicles — pods. To be launched in Amritsar in January 2011, the elevated personal rapid system will be computer-controlled and battery-operated.

Once the rapid system becomes operation, Amritsar will become the second city in the world after London to have it.

The Rs 325 crore projects, to be undertaken under public-private-partnership mode (PPP), will be executed by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB).

“A proposal to develop clean urban transport system submitted by Fairwood India and ATS Company of the United Kingdom was approved recently,” PIDB Managing Director Sukhbir Singh Sandhu said.

The project is expected to be complete by March 2012. The public rapid system will provide round-the-clock transport facility, with empty cars waiting offline at stations for passengers. Ticketing will be automated and journeys uninterrupted.

“The new transport system will be developed in a phased manner with first phase covering the most congested areas, including the Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh. Average journey will be of eight minutes. There will be a central control room with 100 per cent power back up,” Sandhu informed.

The new rapid transport system will ease the traffic on the already chaotic roads. There are around 50,000 tourists visiting Amritsar every year. Therefore, they will get world-class transportation facilities.

While the system is energy saving and completely pollution and noise free, it has a capacity to accommodate burgeoning population of commuters,” the PIDB Managing Director added.