Subway unlikely<\/p>\n
From my office window, high up in the Landmark Center, Tower
\nA, I sometimes look down on the horrified traffic pile-ups at
\nrush hours and wonder just how much the projected subway from
\nBlok M to Kota could do to solve the traffic problem. Is it even
\nfeasible? And how long would it take to bore the tunnel?<\/p>\n
The Jl. Sudirman underpass, which I overlook, took about two
\nyears to complete, and that is barely 50 meters long. So how long
\nwould it take to complete a tunnel of 15 kilometers from Blok M
\nto Kota with presumably several stations on the way, with all the
\ntunnels, escalators and booking offices?<\/p>\n
To judge by the time the Sudirman underpass took, it would be
\nwell into the next century before it was in operation -- and we
\nare talking about a single line.<\/p>\n
Maybe its necessary to compare the project with the London
\nUnderground system, which is probably the most extensive in the
\nworld. I think I am right in saying that work on the first
\n"Metropolitan" line began in the early years of this century. I
\nfirst traveled on the underground as a small boy in the early
\nnineteen twenties, when some of the locomotives were still small
\nsteam engines, which made life very smoky. The entire system has,
\nof course, been electrified since well before the war.<\/p>\n
The populations of Jakarta and London are much the same,
\nthough London's population expands enormously by day, with
\nprobably well over a million people commuting by rail, and not
\nonly by the underground system, but also on the main railway
\nlines leading to the capital.<\/p>\n
Therefore, maybe it would be wiser and cheaper to abandon the
\nsubway project in favor of an overhead monorail system, following
\nthe proposed subway route. To produce an adequate system like
\nLondon's would probably take a century and cost untold billions
\nof dollars.<\/p>\n
RB SAWREY-COOKSON<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/subway-unlikely-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }