Monorail or Metro Rail: the pros and cons

  • 08/06/2011

  • Hindu (Chennai)

There are 20 monorail systems in Asia; Metro networks are in operation in 178 cities around the world CHENNAI: With the State government recently announcing a proposal to construct a crisscrossing network of monorail corridors in the city that would be 300 km in length, Chennai has been put on the road to having the largest and most extensive monorail network in the world. Even if only the 111-km-long Phase-I of the project materialises, it will dwarf all other monorail networks in the world. There are fewer than 20 monorail systems in Asia, of which 10 are in Japan. The longest operational monorail line in the world is a 23.8-km corridor in Osaka. Even the Monorail Society, an international advocacy body, describes Chennai's plan as