The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Chennai metro rail service in five years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 27, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Chennai metro rail service in five years

A. Srivathsan

It will be partly underground and partly elevated It will be partly underground and partly elevated

Chennai: A partly elevated and a partly underground metro railway line along Anna Salai and Poonamallee High Road is coming in five years time.

The Tamil Nadu Government is planning a metro line from Toll Gate in north Chennai to Kamaraj Airport, along Anna Salai. Another line will start from the Beach station and terminate at Guindy.

The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) has been appointed consultant. It has roped in RITES as its consultant. The project was first mooted in 2004 when the DMRC proposed a 45-km stretch of metro line from Tiruvottiyur to Kamaraj airport. The other line was to terminate at Koyambedu. This project has been reviewed and modified. As a result, the original Rs.5,500-crore project will cost Rs.7,000 crore.

Approval granted

Government sources told The Hindu that both the routes have been approved in principle and the DMRC will submit the final alignment and the location of the station points by January 2007. The DMRC proposes to complete the scheme in five years. The Hindu gathers that Poonamallee High Road line starting from Toll Gate will be underground till Egmore and turns elevated thereafter. It will cover Shenoy Nagar, Anna Nagar Roundtana and then the inner ring road, Koyambedu , Ashok Pillar and Guindy Industrial Estate. It is probably at Guindy that the line will meet Anna Salai line. The elevated track will mostly be along the median of the roads. It is estimated that each km of the elevated track would cost Rs.100 crore while the underground line would cost twice the amount. The detailed feasibility report submitted by the DMRC in 2004 has selected the two corridors based on a traffic study. The DMRC is of the opinion that the two corridors have high traffic volume and need long-term plans.

Experts welcome this investment in public transport. However, they caution the successful model of the DMRC cannot be duplicated in Chennai unless the government sets up an independent company to build and operate the network. Otherwise, this too will go the MRTS way and face undue delay and suffer lack of coordination.

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