Monday, August 23, 2010

Big plans for a flawless transportation for CWG

Five-tier transport system for CWG
Press Trust of India,
New Delhi:  Commonwealth Games Organising Committee has decided to put in place a five-tier transport system during the October 3-14 mega-event to be held here.
The elaborate transport network, to be used by the 7500 athletes, officials, referees and mediapersons throughout the multi-sport event, would be jointly managed by Delhi Transport Corporation and car manufacturer Tata Motors, which has been roped in by the Organising Committee.
"Transport is the backbone of the Games and we have to put in place a huge network of transport comprising buses and cars," OC Secretary General Lalit Bhanot told a press conference.
T1 category would have a fleet of dedicated cars which will be used by the top level officials including Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell, while under T2 category on-call car service would be operational on the days of the Games.
There will be 485 and 1000 cars, to be supplied by the Tata Motors, under the T1 and T2 categories respectively, OC Deputy Director General (Transport) Ashish Kumar said.
The T3 and T4 categories would consist of fully air-conditioned buses from DTC.
Under T3, 349 buses would be used to ferry the athletes to and from all the venues on the days, including the days of opening and closing ceremonies, and 25 routes have already been identified for the purpose.
Commutation of mediapersons and the technical officials would fall under the T4 category which has 225 buses.
"All the CWG buses would be exempted from using the speed governors during the Games. We approached the authorities concerned regarding this and they have agreed," OC Special Director General G G Thomas, who was also present on the occasion, said.
"We will have enough provisions to handle any untoward incidents like car breakdown. Besides, all the drivers have been given instructions about what to do in case of any eventuality, including a terror attack," he added.
Other public transports, including DTC and the special metro services would come under the last category.
All the drivers would be given communication radio sets, while every car would be fitted with Global Positioning System (GPS) by which their movements could be tracked.
Besides, a 24X7 call centre would be set up to help the riders and it will work in tandem with Transport Operation Centre to be based at the OC Headquarters. 
Tata has signed an agreement with the OC and the total cost of the service would be Rs. 34 crore. Out of that the OC will reimburse Rs. 10 crore in lieu of drivers' salary, fuel and management while the rest would be raised through sponsorship.
"We have already conducted a few rounds of trials and more would be done in the coming days to make the entire arrangement glitch-free," Kumar said.

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