16-km Kamalapur-N’ganj underground train by 2030

[Bengal71]

Yeah I'm not up to date on how things look like w.r.t Dhaka in a layout kind of way....it may be just too wide.

If you need lot of wiggle, then maybe overhead tram or even just a good network of e-vehicles could be optimal (depending on what you can legislate for inner city restriction on surface travel). In either case its best to put in the heavy capacity "core" stuff first...and see where the intermediate requirements form for the next stage....so every Taka is spent as wisely as possible given transport infra needs to be gotten right the first time around as much as possible.

Yes you are right. Heavy capacity is being installed as we speak since metro is under construction. I am fairly confident it will reduce the congestion in Dhaka significantly. After the flyovers were put in, they reduced congestion a lot, I was in Dhaka few weeks ago.

 

[Nike]

For tram, a dedicated line is required which is no more possible in most areas of Dhaka because of congestion. In the cities like Tokyo or Shanghai, the tram lines were set when the density of population was low and there were large spaces available.

In the case of Tokyo it was around 1902 when the first tram system was introduced, Shanghai in 1881. In the days before the WWll, the main modes of transportation were tram, train, and bus combined. Gradually, the modes changed to train, bus, and tram.

Trams usually have one or two carriages that can transport at best 100 passengers at a time. A train can carry a few thousand. So, it would be uneconomic to build tram lines. A hundred years ago it would have been different. So, train and also bus is needed for the proper functioning of today's city transportation, the bulk being handled by the trains.

Well overhead trams....why not just go for overhead rail as part of metro? It would be just a little more capital investment, and you get lot more capacity for it.

In fact years ago I designed a concept where you have a overhead flyover (road) and you have a tram suspended from its underside, to make use of all the volume afforded in dense cities (where say BRT is not enough capacity but you want something less than a full metro route). But again it would need just that bit more one time capital expenditure and planning (given you need to take into account extra height needed and the routing of flyover exits etc).

Dont know if is applicable in Dhaka or not, but most capital cities of major economy in ASEAN like Jakarta, Bangkok, and Kuala lumpur utilized MRT, commuter rail system, LRT and Bus Rapid transit system. Jakarta had long abolished their tram system and replaced it with commuter rail

 

[Mage]

Dont know if is applicable in Dhaka or not, but most capital cities of major economy in ASEAN like Jakarta, Bangkok, and Kuala lumpur utilized MRT, commuter rail system, LRT and Bus Rapid transit system. Jakarta had long abolished their tram system and replaced it with commuter rail

Yeah...trams are outdated.

 

[Nilgiri]

Yeah...trams are outdated.

Not really outdated, but have to know where they are optimal...and your streets need to be wide enough (or you need to turn some into only pedestrian only and have tramway run down the centre...if they are narrow).

It all really enters the picture a lot later in the infra for high density cities like Dhaka that needed the core "heavy" transit infra years ago.

 

[Mage]

Not really outdated, but have to know where they are optimal...and your streets need to be wide enough (or you need to turn some into only pedestrian only and have tramway run down the centre...if they are narrow).

It all really enters the picture a lot later in the infra for high density cities like Dhaka that needed the core "heavy" transit infra years ago.

Dhaka doesn't have many wide roads. And many roads have already been narrowed to construct flyovers. And elevated metro rail will further narrow it down.

I have said it before, BD should have started metro rail project in the 80's. It was even proposed in 1986 or 1988..but the bus owner godfathers lobbied the govt not to do it.