Dehradun : To fix the traffic problems in Dehradun and give people some relief from the daily jams, several new ideas and experiments have been tried. But so far, nothing has really worked the way it was expected to. Meanwhile, projects like the metro and neo-metro were also planned, but none of them actually took off on the ground. Now, the Dhami government is planning to introduce Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) technology. Inspired by Switzerland, the plan is to give people in Doon city the experience of flying above traffic in elevated corridors. In the first phase of this project, two corridors are planned — one from ISBT to Gandhi Park and the other from FRI to Raipur — covering a total distance of 22.5 kilometers. Around 25 stations are proposed on these routes. The technology, called Light Tram, is being developed by Messrs Hess AG. It uses flash charging technology and is designed to be a high-capacity public transport system that will run entirely on electric power through elevated corridors. This system is being created especially to meet the urban transport needs of Uttarakhand. As mentioned, the first phase will include two main corridors in Dehradun — ISBT to Gandhi Park and FRI to Raipur — with 25 stations along the 22.5 km stretch.
In the presence of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, a presentation was given by Hess Green Mobility about this Mass Rapid Transit System technology. To move this plan forward, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between Uttarakhand Metro Rail Corporation, Hess Green Mobility, Carrosserie Hess AG, and SSB Saarvine and Schaefer Bau AG. The idea of having a metro in Dehradun dates back to 2017, during the tenure of the then CM Harish Rawat. Later, during the Trivendra Singh Rawat government, a broader metro plan was made connecting Dehradun, Haridwar, and Rishikesh. That’s when the Uttarakhand Metro Rail Corporation was formed. Afterwards, the focus shifted to a Neo Metro system for Dehradun city, but that project has been on hold for a long time. Now, with this new MRTS project and fresh partnerships, there’s hope again that the long-stalled Neo Metro project in Dehradun might finally start moving forward.
