A city-based company has come up with a proposal to run a monorail between Budge Budge and Taratala, on the southern fringes.

Andromeda Technologies has approached the state transport minister, Subhas Chakraborty, for implementing the project with a collaborator on a build-operate-transfer (BOT) basis.

Monorails are vehicles plying on a single track. In most cases, the rail is elevated but monorails can also run on the ground or even below it.

“In March, the proposal was forwarded to the chief minister, who gave it the green light. We have asked RITES to conduct a detailed survey and list underground utilities along the proposed route,” said a senior transport department official.

There will be three stations along the 14-km route via Jinjira Bazaar. The project cost will be about Rs 50 crore per km. According to the company, a passenger footfall of around 60,000 a day will make the project feasible.

A survey of traffic along the proposed alignment, a study of the topography and sub-soil investigations will be carried out shortly, said a government official. He felt the government is enthusiastic about the project since it would be carried out on a BOT basis and will not involve expenditure on its part.

The government has asked the departments concerned to identify encroachments along the route and the impact of the project on the local economy.

Faced with shrinking road space and traffic snarls, the state government is looking at various other high-speed transit systems, including the Rs 4,000-crore East-West Metro project between Salt Lake and Howrah.

The government also floated tenders for other modes of transport. Ten companies expressed interest in running monorail and light rail transit systems in the city. A Czech company, Amex International, along with SREI, had been shortlisted for implementing a Rs 2,400-crore project from Joka to Panihati.