NHAI starts work on first phase of pod transport

GURGAON: Personal Rapid Transit (PRT), the proposed pod taxi service between Sirhaul and Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon, could soon become a reality, after NHAI presented a feasibility report of the project and invited expressions of interest (EOI) from international agencies, including the favourite Metrino of Poland, to start work on it.

Highway administrator A K Sharma said the agency to carry out the 25-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, will be selected by May 2. According to the plan, the first phase will be 24 km long and will cost Rs 882 crore. The project envisages small, fully automatic, driverless pods moving on a suspended network 5-10m above ground.

There will be 14 stations on the Sirhaul-Rajesh Pilot Chowk route along NH-8, the first phase.They include Udyog Vihar, Cyber City, Atlas Chowk, Jharsa, Signature Towers, Iffco Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and Subhash Chowk. The report proposed three routes - Dhaula Kuan-Manesar, via Cyber City, Mahipalpur, Rajiv Chowk and IMT Chowk (37 km); Udyog Vihar-Sheetla Mata Road, via Palam Vihar (22 km); and Udyog Vihar-Rajesh Pilot Chowk via Cyber City, Atlas Chowk, Rajiv Chowk and Tau Devi Lal stadium (24 km). Sharma said the PRT will pass through several areas of the old city and not just the Dhaula Kuan-Manesar stretch.