Transport in Sri Lanka
Is the Colombo Light Rail worth it?
A very “back-of-the-envelope analysis”
There’s a lot of discussion and debate about the recently cancelled, Japanese funded, Colombo Light Rail (CLR) Project. Opponents say that “it is not cost-effective”. Proponents have other thoughts.
Who’s right? To form an opinion of my own, I did some back-of-the-envelope calculations.
[See also https://medium.com/on-economics/road-metrics-aef58a17f097 for more details on metrics.]
Latency and Speed
The first stage of the CLR spans 15 stations from Pettah to Malabe. A distance of about 15km. With a top speed of about 80km/h, the CLR promised to complete the entire length in about 30min (average speed 30km/h).
While it is possible to drive from Pettah to Malabe in about 30min in no traffic (e.g. at 2 am), at peak traffic, the journey can last three times that (90min). By bus, it can be 2 hours or more.
Hence, it is clear that the CLR would have been faster. Especially during peak traffic.
Bandwidth
“Bandwidth” is a measure of the number of people travelling per unit time.
