E Sreedharan's suggestion of a metro rail system in place of the planned monorail system raises questions about the viability of the system for a city like Trivandrum | Mukesh Venu On Jun 21, 2012   While submitting the study report on Kozhikode monorail to the Chief Minister, E Sreedharan's reaction regarding its viability in Trivandrum was that of skeptical apprehension. Instead, he mentioned about the need for Trivandrum to have something that's beyond monorail; the 'metro' man has proposed a metro rail for Trivandrum. Kochi is getting a metro, Kozhikode is getting a monorail and E Sreedharan has chosen to acknowledge Trivandrum's future prospects and requirements to be on par with that of Cochin.
After giving the nation the Delhi Metro, which is the fastest growing metro network in the world outside China, E Sreedharan has proven by his deed,...
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his ability to judge the feasibility of metro rail system for a particular city. There are many facts about both kinds of Mass Rapid Transit Systems (MRTS) that are relevant when taking into account the characteristic features in the present day lay out of Trivandrum city.  
    Going by history, monorails were conceived as a solution to traffic problems in the big cities of 1950s, and they have essentially survived since then uptill now. Their implications never met with any resounding  success anywhere and many cities chose to overlook monorails as an option in lateryears because of its comparatively high running cost. One country that applies monorails to advantage is Japan, where the system is used to solve the problems of heavy traffic jams in streets of intermediate length.
However, in India, monorails are being mooted for numerous cities, and the ones already under construction in Mumbai and Chennai are being touted as among the largest in the world. Monorails were found to be feasible to a city like Trivandrum because of its comparatively lesser cost and lesser space requirement than a conventional metro. The trains were to run in single, elevated tracks whose piers would stand on the medians of the road. Those places within the city and its suburbs outside the reach of monorail, could be given access to it through  feeder services.
As for the cost, E Sreedharan has put forward the option of LRTS (Light Rail Transit System) in place of monorail for Trivandrum. A metro system could be divided into heavy, medium and light capacity metros, of which constructing a light capacity metro would cost similar to a monorail system and would carry the same number of passengers, but with lesser operational costs. There would be no change in the average speed of commutation with either of these systems.
The proposed stretch from Pallippuram to Neyyattinkara is 42 kilometers long and passes through a very uneven land surface, unlike in Delhi, Chennai or Mumbai. The stretch isn't straight either, but is coiled with frequent sharp curves. The graphic design of monorail by NATPAC has  the train running through an elevated track that is smooth and straight with turns that are gradual. It is really difficult to imagine a monorail passing through an elevated track built into the median of the road stretch between Ulloor and Kesavadasapuram in the present situation.
  Metro rail system, in comparison with monorail system, can go through elevated tracks, run parallel to the road and even go underground. So a right combination of the three would be more suitable to the landscape of Trivandrum. Metro rail systems do need more land compared to the monorail project, but studies have revealed that around 40% of the land within the city lies underutilized through ill-planning.
The MRTS being planned for Trivandrum is to cater to the future needs of the city. At present, the city has a population of one million and the IT corridor, Vizhinjam and Tourism projects are bound to transform the city into one of the fastest growing in India. Metro rails are ideal for cities with over three million population; monorails are more ideal to congested neighborhoods with narrow roads where high maneuverability would be required. And the feeder services that are planned to bring the service of the monorails to a greater part of the population looks highly improbable even with the roads that have been included and improved in the City Road Improvement Project.
For Trivandrum, with its salient geographical and social features monorail is an option which  means that  the present road infrastructure needs to be  adjusted to cater to the needs of a future population. A metro system meanwhile offers a different, option of commutation that will relieve the existing roads of  the brimming traffic.
The greatest irony of the entire matter is that it was DMRC which had adjudged monorail as the more suitable option for Trivandrum. A study carried out by DMRC in 2006 had assessed the city to have  peak hour peak directional trips of only around 6000 by 2030, for which a metro system wouldn't be economically viable. But now, E Sreedharan, the Managing Director of DMRC has  suggested a metro system for Trivandrum, the detailed project of which is to be handed over to the Chief Minister by July 9.
So, for Trivandrum, the big question is - is it going to be a monorail or a metro rail?