The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation began a survey in the Vyttila Mobility Hub on Monday to assess the feasibility of having a metro-rail station within the hub, instead of at Vyttila Junction.
This would go on for two or three days. Apart from locating the station, the change in alignment too would have to be decided.
The current alignment runs straight from SA Road to the Vyttila-Pettah Road, with a station building proposed on the north-western part of Vyttila Junction.
“If and once the station is located at the hub, the alignment from Vyttila would pass through Kaniampuzha Road, enter the hub and exit near the Kaniampuzha River. Thus, it would be the only waterbody beneath the elevated rails that links Aluva and Pettah.”
The survey team is from Meridian Survey, Chennai. They would also assess whether the turning radius available for the metro-rail falls within permissible limits. The feasibility report is expected to be ready in a week.
In the meanwhile, the Vyttila Mobility Hub Society would construct a wider road on the southern side of the Kaniampuzha Road, to enable smooth entry and exit of buses from the hub. The metro-rail too could enter the hub over this.
“We have earmarked space for the road in property belonging to the hub since the Kaniampuzha Road is too narrow,” said sources in the society.
The General Manager of KITCO - Kerala Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisation, the consultant for the hub, Cyriac Davis, said that once the new road is ready, the present exit from the hub that enters the Vyttila-Tripunithura Road could become an entry route for buses coming from Tripunithura.
“The final decision on the new road would be taken after consulting the NHAI which has mooted two flyovers in Vyttilla,” he said.
On the skywalk proposed to enable pedestrians from all four sides of Vyttila junction to cross over to the other sides and to the hub, he said that this would have to be considered after finalizing the metro-rail alignment.
The second phase of development works at the hub would be finalised later this month, at a meeting that would be chaired by the Chief Secretary.
A bigger bus terminal would be built, since the present one is an interim one. Plans for the proposed boat jetty on the eastern end of the hub too would be finalised at the meeting.
