BANGALORE: The State Government plans to introduce inter-modal transport in Bangalore and Mysore to reduce air pollution and decongest traffic.

Transport Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy said a technical team from the Rhone Alpes Region of France would visit the State next month to discuss a long-term plan to introduce inter-modal transport such as trams and electric buses in the two cities.

A delegation led by Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy recently visited France to study the inter-modal transport facilities in the Rhone Alpes Region, particularly in Lyon, and held discussions with the vice-president of the region, Bernard Soulage. Mr. Soulage would visit the State in the third week of December, the Minister said.

A memorandum of understanding would be signed between the State Government and the Rhone Alpes Region for cooperation in the areas of transport, education, training and research, he said.

A tie-up would be established with the Lyon Transport Authority, which operates the latest transport systems prevailing in Europe, for training and capacity building at institutes of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation. Research programmes could be taken up with French institutes through the well-established Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune.

Collaboration

The State would also collaborate with the Rhone Alpes Region in the areas of municipal solid waste management and urban planning, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said.

To study the feasibility of inter-modal transport, the Government had decided to prepare a detailed project report (DPR) based on a study to be conducted by Infrastructure Development Corporation (Karnataka) Ltd. The report would be ready in six months, he said.

The study would identify bus rapid transport (BRT) corridors in the two cities. The cost of the project would be known only after the DPR was prepared, he said.

Though the Volvo bus service in Bangalore had been found to be financially unviable, the Government had decided to introduce 250 more such buses this year, Mr. Cheluvarayaswamy said.

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