The need for infrastructure facilities is felt in a Metro City like Mumbai for a very long time. But the recent Eastern Express Freeway, Monorail and SCLR all make travelling comfortable for office
goers and business people. As I do not have a two wheeler or a car,I chose a BEST bus to cover this route and go to my aunt’s place in Kalina. While travelling through Santa Cruz-Chembur Link Road (SCLR), you can enjoy theride on this speedy flyover, considered to be an engineering marvel, on a BEST bus. It is a cheap mode of travel as well. The Eastern Freeway is a controlled-access freeway, in Mumbai, that connects P D’Mello Road in South Mumbai to the Eastern Express Highway at Ghatkopar. It is 16.8 km long and its estimated cost is 1,436 crores. It is a pleasure to travel to Khandivalithrough this route without having to face much traffic. Mono rail failed to get a good response and does not cover areas having business places and offices and so the very purpose of going for incurring in the huge project is defeated.
The Mumbai Monorail, an intra-city rail network covering 135 km of it’stotal planned length, opened to the public on 2 February, 2014. The master plan for the monorail, designed to improve the transportation system of Mumbai, has been implemented by the Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), with a consortium of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) and a Malaysian firm, Scomi Engineering but for an initial rush for a joyride, the scheme did not provide much relief to ease out commutation problem in this route.
Perhaps, the scheme to come in operation in a couple of months’ time may cover focal points and help out more commuters to make use of monorail. The experience through monorail is not so encouraging as you have to touch the crowded Fine Arts Auditorium Area and land in a remote Vadala corner. It is time to have proper planning and involvement of Public – Private participation may bring more comfort to travelling public.
C.K Subramaniam
