Shimla monorail idea mooted

To decongest Shimla’s vehicular traffic the Himachal Pradesh government has come up with an ambitious monorail project proposal for the hill station .

Himachal’s urban development minister Sudhir Sharma said n this connection he along with state chief minister Virbhadra Singh met the union urban development minister Kamal Nath over the weekend .

“Kamal Nath has asked the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) to carry out a survey and prepare a feasibility report in six months ,” Sharma said here Sunday .

“The Shimla monorail project will cost Rs 5000 crore and could be funded entirely by the Centre . It will connect downtown Shimla to the suburbs and reduce congestion and help maintain the green cover ,” Sharma said .

If approved this will be the first monorail project in the hill state .  Shimla being a round the year tourist destination and the steep terrain , narrow roads offer very little space for parking as a result of which traffic snarls are frequent .

The state government was also proposing to have monorail projects in other popular tourist destinations of Manali and Dharamsala .