Owais Mughal
Last month there have been several news items about the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) Rail project. We have tried to gather key information from many of these news items and will present it in the following as one concise post on the topic.
The proposed rail service is the main part of the Lahore Mass Transit System (LRMTS). Other components of this project include the now under construction Lahore Ring Road Project.
The Photo above shows the Route Map of LRMT Phase I – Green Line
The LRMT is a Two-phase, 97 kilometes long project. A Hong Kong based company called MVA Asia Consultancy was hired the government of Punjab as consultants to prepare the project feasibility. The study of MVA Asia Consultancy completed 5% of project design and proposed four Rail lines in the city to share the traffic burden. The proposed capacity of LRMT is going to be able to move 35000 passengers per hour in the city. Funding for the project will be provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
PHASE I:
In Phase-I two tracks will be constructed. One will be a North-South route called the Green Line and other will be a East-West route called the Orange Line.
Green Line:
Green Line is going to cost US $2.4 billion to construct.
The Green Line would extend from Shahdara to Hamza Town via Ravi Road, Lower Mall, Mall Road, Fatima Jinnah Road, Qartaba Chowk and Ferozepur Road areas.
The Photo above shows the Route Map of LRMT Phase I – Green Line
The length of Green Line is going to be 27 km. 11.6 km long Green Line route would be underground, while 15.4 km long would be overhead.
There will be 12 underground and 10 overhead stations built on the Green Line route.
The completion dates of ‘Green Line’ is in 2011. Initially the project was supposed to finish in 2012 but due to Cricket World Cup od 2012 wher Lahore will be hosting few matches, the Green Line completion date has been pulled in to 2011. Initial estimates are that 227,000 people annually would benefit from the Green line.
In March 2007, Punjab Government invited Dr E. Sreedharan who is the managing director of successfully operating Delhi Metro Rail. After studying the project details Dr Sreedharan has declared Green Line Project as a viable one. He has inspected the first priority line’s route from Shahdara to Hamza Town. In his view, the implementation of the Green Line project (Phase I) would face no major technical difficulty because the soil condition en route was good and roads were wide, having room for underground construction without creating any serious inconvenience to the city.
Orange Line:
Orange Line is going to cost US $1.9 billion.
Its route would extend from Pakistan Mint to Sabzazar via Shahnur, Awan Town, Hinjarwal, Niaz Beg, Canal View, Wahdat Road, Ali Town, Salahuddin Road, Bund Road, Islam Park, Dera Gujjran Depot, Mahmood Booti, Salamatpura, Samanabad, Gulshan Ravi, Chauburji, Lake Road, Lakshami Chowk, Railway Station, Sultanpura, UET, Baghbanpura and Shalimar Garden areas.
The length of Orange Line would also be 27-km out of which, 6.9 km long tracks would be underground, while 20.2 km-long would be overhead upon which six underground and 20 overhead stations would be established.
The central interchange station of Green and Orange lines would also be established besides linking these lines at Ring Road, railway station, airport, and Sports City.
The completion dates of ‘Orange Line’ is in 2015. Initial estimates are that 245,000 people annually would benefit from the Orange Train.
PHASE II:
The completion year for phase II is 2020.
In Phase-II, two more tracks will be laid out. These routes will be called Blue Line and Purple Line.
Blue Line:
The route length of blue line is going to be 24 km. The ‘Blue Line’ will start from Chauburji and end at College Road, sources said, adding that from Chauburji the line would pass through Mozang Chungi, Shadman Chowk, Jail Road, Mian Boulevard Gulberg, Mian Boulevard Garden Town, Faisal Town and end at College Road.
Purple Line:
The route length of Purple line is going to be 19 km. Purple line would start from Bhaati Chowk and end at Allama Iqbal International Airport. The line would pass through Bhaati Chowk, Brandreth Road, Railway Station, Allama Iqbal Road, Dharampura, Ghazi Road and end at Allama Iqbal International Airport
The Train Capacity:
One unit of air-conditioned train will have the seating capacity of 500 passengers.
Stations:
Train stations on the elevated route would be designed like overhead bridges while train stations on the underground route would have two entranceways and two exits.
Environmental Concerns?
Just like with every Mega project, voices of dissent have started appearing for the project where people have shown concern for environment and noise levels of elevated trains. Dawn‘s editorial on Jult 12, 2007 covers these voices very concisely and I’ll quite the editorial here:
The first two lines will cost $3.3 billion. In real terms, the cost of the project is yet to be worked out. Surely, notes of dissent are expected to start pouring in. The economists are going to question the heavy debt the project will incur for the government and the citizens, while the opposition politicians are most definitely going to give their own colour to these lines and the sabza group may soon be out to enumerate the effects of this development on Lahore’s environment. Some of these points may be very valid and should elicit a thoughtful response from the government. There can be no moving ahead without this exercise. The sooner this essential exercise is carried out the better it would be for everyone.
Noise: I couldn’t find the details on expected noise levels around elevated portions of the track but noise is definitely going to travel far and away if sound barriers are not constructed around the tracks. More than normal decibels of noise are already witnessed around Pakistan Railway’s elevated track which runs from Lahore Station to Badami Bagh.
Previous Light Rail Studies or Projects:
The current project is definitely not the first attempt to build a rail based mass transit for Lahore. In 1991 during Nawaz Sharif’s termas prime minister, the feasibility of a light rail transit system was determined by Japanese development organisation (JICA). It had proposed a 13 kilometre long system. The study was reviewed and updated as part of the World Bank funded “Lahore traffic and transport studies” in 1993.
The system’s cost was estimated at about US $400 million, but with better network coverage. In 1995 Japan proposed financing the original scheme with grants and loans of about US $495 million, but the project could not be implemented due to many reasons.
Fares: Back in July 2007, it was reported in Daily Times that Passengers of the Lahore Rapid Mass Transit (LRMT) would be charged Rs 125 to Rs 140 to travel from one end to the other of the 27 kilometre-long Green Line.
“Sources associated with the project told Daily Times on Thursday that this (Rs 125-Rs 140) one-side fare had been calculated after taking into account the rendered $2.5 billion cost of the project, which is expected to be completed by 2011. Sources said that to pay back the loan likely to be incurred on the LRMT project, the government would have to charge high fares from the passengers. Currently, the public transport fare from Kahna to Shahdara is between Rs 20 to 25. By 2011, it would rise between Rs 25 and Rs 30. They said that to charge a passenger of the LRMT Rs 30 for a one-side visit, the government would have to give a subsidy of at least Rs 100 per person, which was not possible for the government.
While Rs 140 one way fare indeed looks ridiculous right now, passengers may end up paying much more than road transport. The benefiit however will be ease of travel, no traffic jams and hopefully a strict adherence to time table.
Hope: Many years ago I took a course in Engineering Economics. I still remember one sentence from my text book. It read as:
“All mega projects should be built as soon as possible after their design is done and funding is secured otherwise opposition to the project grows on POLITICAL basis.”
When we look around the mega projects of Pakistan, it appears so true. If big projecs are not started quickly they never will because somebody will always find a reason to do politics on the issue. In the end we sincerely hope the project sees the light of the day and does not end like the one in works for Karachi (called KMTP/KCR) for the past 33 years. Lets all hope for the best and we will continue to add updates on this project in the comments section below.
References
(1) Metroblogging Lahore
(2) Dawn Editorial of July 12, 2007 here.
(3) The News, February 26, 2006 here.
(4) MVA Consultancy
(5) Business Recorder Edition of June 10, 2007
(6) The Daily Times Edition of March 14, 2006
(7) ZeeNews edition of March 5, 2007
(8) Lahore Signs Light Rail MoU: September 1, 2002.
(9) Daily Times Edition of July 7, 2007
From the Following News, it is clear the Mr. Sharif is bent upon making the Lahore Expressway project and ultimately this means no more Mass Transit Project. Indeed Tragic.
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LAHORE PUNJAB
Chief Minister Mian Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has directed that timely and quality completion of all developmental projects should be ensured besides expediting the pace of ongoing projects. He said the construction work of Rawalpindi Express Way with a sum of Rs. 20 billion had been started whereas express way would be constructed on the same pattern in Lahore.
Maximum entry and exit points will be constructed for the convenience of the citizens, he added. He was presiding over a high level meeting held to review the pace of implementation of various developmental projects in the province on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by Chief Engineer GHQ Lt. Gen. Shahid Niaz, Chairman Task Force Kh. Ahmad Hassan, Chairman Task Force Horticulture Mustafa Kamal, Chairman P&D, Secretary C&W, Director General LDA, DCO Lahore, MD NESPAK and Director General PHA.
Addressing the meeting, Main Shahbaz Sharif said the government had initiated mega developmental projects in the province for the improvement of infrastructure as well as providing better transport facilities to the masses. He said these projects would be completed within the stipulated time and in transparent manner.
He directed setting up maximum entry and exit points for smooth flow of traffic on Rawalpindi Express Way so that people could benefit form this project. He directed the constitution of a committee comprising representatives of FWO, Secretary C&W and Chairman P&D for removal of hurdles as well as timely completion of this project. He said the feasibility report was being prepared for construction of Express Way in Lahore which would cost Rs. 42 billion. He said he would talk to the Chinese investor for this mega project during his visit there.
The chief minister directed that WASA and other departments should complete their work before the construction of roads in Lahore, as permission of digging would not be granted to any department after the completion of roads. He said the FWO would lay down the sewerage on these roads. He directed that the construction work of the roads of walled-city should be started from next Monday.
Directing acceleration of the pace of construction work of Shalimar flyover, Mian Muhammad Shahbaz said maximum construction work of all the projects, including Shalimar Flyover, should be carried out at night as well so that these projects could be completed within the stipulated time. He directed that installation of 70 new tube-wells in Lahore should be completed within the next two months.
The meeting also reviewed the pace of implementation of various development projects including Muree Road, Adiyala Road and Dipalpur Road. The IG Police Punjab was directed during the meeting to take immediate measures for handing over the Mughalpura Police Station and adjacent police building to the concerned departments for carrying out construction work. Earlier, Chief Engineer Lt. Gen.
Shahid Niaz informed the meeting about the details of implementation on various developmental projects being completed by FOW.
Any more update about this project? How long we have to wait to hear this project will be started or is it really being abondoned bu this government………..
Thankyou very much shafiq. Indeed u r very right and u mention all those things which are in my mind…. indeed true
Dear Asim,
Thanks for your kind reply on the website but our official , bureucracy and leaders both are corrupt and they show for just wordings. Now Govt in crisis and beg the foregin help from the outside govts and show us a begger nation but why they cannot give the project to foregin people and investment from abroad?
Similar here in Karachi mass transit is nothing just make papers submit to Govt some meetings only for tea parties and discussion of their own life. I think this nation must take time for revlution. Our people go from around the world but if you see the world mass transit system is veyr old in London oldest mass transit system these people lived in Britian in Park lane but why they cannot convert Lahore in to Lodnon because then no body go for their election office and people cannot beg the bread for these fucking leaders. My words are hard but its very true. You try to continue efforts for this project i think planning department Punjab still this project on the website and still willing to do this project but i think chief minister is still busy to stop all the project which start by the previous Govt.
I think if you send planning commission MR salman farooqi may be he take action but he is notorius of curroption.
Ok Allah blessed for our country.
Hamid shafiq
Again the same problem…… How can I convey my message to chief minister that please give up the idea of Elevated Expressway. But simply impossible ……..