Indian experts probe TT’s proposed monorail

Trinidad and Tobago may well get a monorail or similar light rail mass transit system, according to the results of a feasibility study being conducted by a team of transport experts from India.

Minister of Works and Transport, Franklyn Khan, held talks Tuesday at his Richmond Street office with Indian High Commissioner, Virendra Gupta, and a two-member team led by AK Sharma of the State-run Rail India Technical and Economic Services Limited (Rites).  At a media conference before the talks, Khan said the experts were visiting Trinidad as a follow-up to the visit in February of India’s Minister of Foreign Affairs who had first suggested cooperation in this field. The technical team will spend 10 days in Trinidad  to research the viability of light rail system, by observing traffic conditions, collecting data, and meeting ministerial technical staff.

They will make a small presentation of findings to Khan by October 1, which will be followed by a concept paper in one month’s time. If agreed upon this could form the basis for the later launch of a formal full-scale feasibility study. Gupta said the Government of India attached much importance to this project which he described as a new phase in the long history of technical and economic cooperation between the two countries’ governments. Saying he was glad the experts were here to study Trinidad’s transport situation, Gupta noted that India had previously facilitated training for many Trinidadians especially in agriculture and information technology.