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Massive Rail Car Network To Rise In Amritsar (India)
Amritsar is one of the most fascinating cities cities in the
subcontinent. Not only is it the location for the holiest shrine of the
Sikhs, but an engineering marvel is poised to rise above its streets and
thoroughfare. Recently merged contractor UltraFairwood have announced
its plans to raise a 3.3km long ‘elevated guideway’ to support a railcar
network. Even on paper, the details are superlative.
Not
only does the expansive network aim to transport 100,000 people
regularly (especially Sikhs visiting their Golden temple), but
contribute very little in terms of pollution and traffic. (Seen above is
just a computer generated rendition.)
According to the website UltraGlobalPRT:
Amritsar
represents the first urban application of PRT. At peak capacity the
Amritsar system can carry up to 100,000 passengers a day on a 3.3km /
2.0 mile elevated guideway in over 200 pods between seven stations,
making it the world’s largest PRT system to date.
Financed
entirely by private funding on a build, own, operate transfer (BOOT)
basis, passenger services will go live in 2014. Although the cost of
the scheme is subject to commercial confidentiality, it demonstrates
that a large scale urban PRT system can be delivered on a financially
viable, fare-based model and offer very real returns for financial
backers.