Are urban ropeways a good bet for future?

The temple town of Varanasi, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, is synonymous with the vibrant yet chaotic narrow alleys, bustling markets, food, sight, and sound, all of which make for a sensory overload.

- Soumya Chatterjee

But soon one will have the option to navigate these streets from a height of 45 meters, as trial runs for India's first urban ropeway system are expected to start in the city in February.

With peak tourist footfalls reaching 200,000 on a single day, this cable car system will help tourists and locals alike, say authorities. It will reduce the journey time from the Cantonment area to Godowlia to 15 minutes, which takes 45 minutes to even an hour during peak hours, said Pulkit Garg, vice-chairman of Varanasi Development Authority.

The 3.85 km ropeway system, with stops at Godowlia Chowk, Girja Ghar, Rath Yatra, Kashi Vidyapith (Bharatmala Mandir), and Varanasi Cantonment Railway Station, is designed to carry 3,000 people in one direction in an hour. Operating for 16 hours a day, the system will have the capacity to carry 96,000 people daily, according to officials. Garg said operations are likely to start in the first half of this year.

The project is being built under a hybrid annuity model (HAM) under the public-private-partnership framework by the National Highways Logistics Management (NHLML), a subsidiary of the National Highways Authority of India. NHLML is also currently setting up around 200 ropeway projects with three such projects tendered out in Himachal Pradesh's Kullu, Mahakaleshwar Temple in MP's Ujjain, and Dosi Hills in Haryana under the National Ropeways Development Programme—Parvatmala Pariyojana.

While the fares are yet to be officially set, Garg said ticket prices are likely to be in line with Metro fares in other Indian cities, while an NHLML official said that ticket prices will be comparable with existing auto-rickshaw fares in Varanasi.