While metro rail work goes on in full swing in the city, monorail is fast catching up. A special team comprising officials from various wings of the transport department has been formed to decide upon the locations where monorail stations would come up.
The team, formed early this week, comprises a private consultancy, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) and Pallavan Transport Consultancy Services. Apart from analysing the feasibility of the location, it will also study the possibility of integration of different transport modes.
“The stations should come up at places that are good crowd generation points. For example, they should be near places like malls, educational institutions, hospitals and cinema halls,” said a traffic expert.
“The locations under consideration must have sufficient space for accommodating a station. The accessibility to these stations should also be taken into consideration,” the expert said. “The roads leading up to the stations should be well lit and safe.”
The authorities are yet to identify a consultant for the monorail project. Around 10 companies had submitted Requests for Proposal (RFP) to the government.
Meanwhile, authorities have shortlisted project promoters out of eight consortia of firms. Some of the qualified firms are — Hitachi and Bombardier, L&T, Gammon and IL&FS. A committee, under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Debendranath Sarangi, met about 10 days ago and zeroed in on the eligible consortia.
The government has identified four corridors — Vandalur to Velachery (23 km), Poonamallee to Kathipara Junction (16 km), Poonamalee to Vadapalani (18 km) and Vandalur to Puzhal (54 km). Initially, work will be taken up in the first three corridors at a cost of Rs. 8,500 crore. Work on the fourth corridor will be taken up later.
Keywords: Chennai monorail project
What is the point of building a brand new monorail transport system when the most economical option would be to extend the Metro system? The current 45km planned network of Metro rail will not become financially viable (not make a profit, just minimize loss) in operation unless the system is extended. In addition, the specialized technical know-how gained by years of Metro rail work and the training that has been undergone, will go to waste, not to mention the extra cost of getting personnel trained for a new system.
While the idea of an intermodal transport system is sound in principle, the implementation is completely absent - today, people simply cannot buy a ticket that will take them on a suburban train and thence on a bus. Adding more modes of transport will only increase the confusion.
Lastly, have any feasibility reports and financial studies for the Monorail been made public? Why wasn't an evaluation carried out by an independent authority before the tender process?
Poonamalee to Vadapalani line should certainly integrate with Metro station at Vadapalani. Also, it should be extended to go all the way to Luz and integrate with the other Metro line there. This was planned in Metro Phase II. Now that Metro phase II has been abandoned (it appears so) atleast the Monorail should extended to address that need. If the plan is to extend the mono rail as part of Phase II, then care should be taken now to design the tracks in such a way it can cross over Metro (at Vadapalani) without any issues. Another possibility is to integrate Monorail with the existing suburban train at Kodambakkam as well.
In 2 years time when DMK takes over this project will be cancelled. So this is just a waste
of time and tax payer money.
Good to Hear that MONO is coming to Singara Chennai, but the Project should come up without further delay.
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