The proposal to construct a hanging cycle track below the metro rail track, mooted by a city-based NGO, is not feasible, said highly-placed sources in Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. For the cycle track the height of the metro pillars will have to be raised, and experts say an increase is not feasible.
Any change in the metro design is impractical, according to sources.
Another deterrent is that the cycle track will not be of much use in Kerala, where people don’t have the habit of riding bicycles. “Though some Western countries have a hanging cycle track below the metro rail, such a facility does not exist anywhere in India. In European countries, it’s different – a lot of people ride high-end cycles,” said an expert.
As the tracks will have only limited entry and exit points, short-distance travelling in between these points will not be possible. Only those who want to travel from station to station or from one entry point to the next, can use the track.
The proposal, mooted by Better Kochi Response Group, a city-based NGO, was to construct a unidirectional track, with a width of two meters on both sides of the metro pillars. The idea was to encourage cycling and minimise the number of two-wheelers and three-wheelers. As per the proposal, the cycles would be given free of charge to the public and the metro agency could generate revenue by using the cycle track and the cycles themselves for advertisements.
Though the NGO has submitted its proposal to the DMRC and Kochi Metro Rail Ltd, increasing the height of the metro pillars would not be an easy task, it is observed.