The plan may be ambitious, but the woods should not be missed for the trees. Chennai Metro Rail may be making big plans about covering 88 kilometres of the city in its Phase II project, but it must pay attention to its deadlines, which if missed would lead to problems for residents, say experts in the transport industry.
K. Srinivasan of Indian Roads and Transport Development Association, says, “Delhi Metro Rail is a classic example of how a project could be completed in time. It all started in a small way and has now become a formidable network... that is how it should be." Delhi Metro Rail completed its first service between Shahdara and Tis Hazari, a distance of 8 km, in four and a half years. In fact, the entire phase I of 65 km was completed in 2005, which was two years and nine months ahead of its deadline.
They went further and completed phase II covering 125 km in another four-and-a-half years and the work on phase III — a sprawling 140 km — has been progressing well.
Whereas phase I of Chennai Metrorail should have been completed by 2015, according to its original schedule, it started its first 10 km service between Koyambedu and Alandur only in June last year.
G. Satish, a resident of OMR, says if phase II is executed at the same pace as Phase I then there shall be traffic chaos. “If the project takes several years, we may not be able to cope with reduced road space and diversions for long on the already congested roads,” he adds.
Also, it is to be noted that the approval for such projects needs to arrive soon. For instance, the Phase I extension of Chennai Metro Rail from Washermanpet to Wimco Nagar, covering north Chennai, has been pending for several years now.
