IEEE TECHNICAL LECTURE

IEEE Delhi Section organized a technical lecture on “Monorail - A medium capacity urban Transport system based on Electric Traction” by Mr. Kentatsu Ito at India International Center, New Delhi on 14th March 2016. Rishabh Rauthan (16130), from Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended the lecture.

The welcome address and the introduction was given by Mr. V K Gupta, Chairman, IET Delhi Local Network. Mr. Gupta also discussed about the need of urban transport system. After that, special address was given by Mr. N Venkatesan, Member Electrical (Rtd) Rly Board & Past Chairman, Delhi Local Network, Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and Mr. V. K.Dutt, Add. Member Electrical (Rtd) Rly Board in which they discussed that the elevated nature of a monorail line lets people easily drive or walk back and forth between the two sides of the line.

Dr. Kentatsu Ito, Manager at Rail Systems Company, Hitachi India Pvt. Ltd., discussed several advantages of monorails. Dr. Ito said that because a monorail is grade separated, there is no point for collision with the public transport. He said that many of the world's transit monorails exist in Japan, eight of which are full - scale urban transit systems.

Dr. Ito explained that Monorail systems are not cheap. They cost much more than bus systems. However they usually cost less than light rail systems, considerably less than heavy rail commuter railroads, and much less than underground light rail or subway systems. Even though bus systems normally cost much less, in the case of true bus rapid transit where specially - designed buses run on grade separated bu s- only roadways, the costs may exceed that of a monorail line.

Focussing on the safety provided by electric monorails, Dr. Ito stated that whether they are of the straddle - beam or suspended variety, modern monorail technology makes derailment virtually impossible. He said that as monorail is elevated, accidents with surface traffic are impossible. Zero accidents with pedestrians or surface traffic translate to no system down time, less liability suits and most importantly, a safer public.

In the end, the vote of thanks was given by Mr Ashish Srivastava, H’ble Secretary, Delhi Local Network, Instution of Engineering and Technology (IET). In the end there was an interactive questions and answers session in which attendees raised some questions and their doubts about the issues related to monorails. It was a great experience for us as Dr.Kentatsu Ito explained in detail about various advantages and challenges of Monorail.

Some Glimpses :