Though construction on Phase-I of the Metro commenced just some months ago, the rapid expansion of its network will determine what the city's transportation will be like in the future.
As ideas for future Metro Rail corridors gather ground, with the Governor's address to the Assembly on Friday announcing that three new links are being considered, the place that the Metro project occupies in the city's transportation grid has come into focus.
A detailed project report will soon be undertaken by the consultant, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, to determine the feasibility of corridors between Moolakkadai-Thirumangalam, Moolakkadai-Thiruvanmiyur and Luz-Poonamallee through Iyyappanthangal.
Populated areas
K. Rajaraman, Managing Director of Chennai Metro Rail Limited, said that the routes were chosen by identifying thickly populated areas in the city that currently do not have access to an effective mass transit option. When the population coverage was mapped on to the city's transit network, there were quite a few large gaps.
Though construction on Phase-I of the Metro commenced just some months ago, the rapid expansion of its network will determine what the city's transportation will be like in the future.
H.M. Shivanand Swamy, executive director of the Centre for Excellence in Urban Planning at CEPT University, Ahmedabad, says “People would always choose to live in a locality which is accessible. Mass transit networks play a key role in determining how any city expands.”
Pointing to London, which is about the same size as Chennai, having a 500-km mass transit network, he says that based on current demographics, most Indian cities would double in size within the next 30 years before population growth stabilises. “Metro systems must rapidly branch out towards suburban areas. Those localities are going to become the centres of activity tomorrow. We must start building up capacity to prepare for the poly-centric cities of the future, which will have more than one city centre,” he adds.
The Shanghai Metro, for example, which commenced operation in 1995, has already expanded to a 420-km network. It surpassed the London Underground as the longest urban rail network in the world in early 2010.
Massive transit problem
Acknowledging the importance of branching out into suburban areas, Mr.Rajaraman, however, said it is not possible at the moment as there is a massive transit problem within the city itself. “Nearly 30 to 40 per cent of the city's residents do not have access to any mass transit system,” he says.
He added that CMRL's current model of financing cannot sustain expansion along routes that do not show a high degree of travel density.
On the issue of financial viability, M.N. Murthy, researcher at the New Delhi-based Institute of Economic Growth says since new Metro corridors take time to build up ridership, “a network instead of a line approach should be adopted in evaluating new lines”.
This approach would potentially enable future new lines to be implemented a few years earlier, so long as the entire rail network remains viable.
According to his case study of the Delhi Metro, the social return from greater mobility, in the form of more economic activity and lesser pollution, is much higher than financial rate of return. He estimates the rate of return to be 22 per cent, which means for every rupee of investment, 22 paise is earned.
One more important facet that any expansion plan would have to factor in is greater integration. For example, in Singapore, 25 per cent of the commuters use the Metro systems, but 60 per cent of them combine it with a bus trip.
Metro systems such as the one in Los Angeles finance, build, and operate their own feeder bus systems and bicycle tracks.
(This story was amended on January 11, 2011)
Keywords: Metro Rail, Chennai Metro Rail, transportation systems, CMRL
I fully subscribe to Mr. M Thangapandyan view. Hope the concerned metro rail authority will look into on priority basis for the benefit of millions of people who come for work in those areas.
Ahmedabad badly needs mass transport rather mass transit system in almost each corner of city. As a part of Gujarat states aggressive growth people are facing stiff problem of traffic now, due to increased purchase power of people living in Ahmedabad city. Every day 100s of four wheelers are being added on roads of Ahmedabad. BRTS (bus rapid transit system) which was questioned when it was being launched for its success...has proved a lifeline for the people for rapid transit. We are facing crunch with the number of buses on every hour, even after it's not fully operational throughout the city. Now it's a time to take faster decision for Monorail and Metro rail to implement it to connect S G Highway to Ashram road, S G Higway to 132 ring road, S G Highway to 100 ft Ring road, Ashram road to 132 ft ring road, 132 ft Ring road to airport, Airport to ashram road.
Oragadam and Sripermbudur are the nerve centre of Tamil Nadu and an important manufacturing centre in India. Many MNC and Indian companies have located factories there offering employment for lakhs of people. What is required is a metro or MRTS connecting Koyembedu to Sriperubudur via Irrugantukotttai then to Oragadam and on to Meenambakkam airport via Mudichur and Pallavaram. Again a line from airport to Sriperumbudur may be to the proposed new airport. The cost as on date will be around or less than 1000 crore because mostly it will be on land and suitable allocation can be made on the Outer Ring Road or the Chennai Bypass road. This will offer phenomenal benefit to the people and also later connect the two airports.
Poonamalle to Luz is a welcome and long awaited project but it must be done on time which is a big rocket science. Porur must be definitely included since it acts as a junction for Kundrathur, Vadapalani, Iyyapanthangal, Ramapuram areas. If possible the service can be extended till Kancheepuram via Sri Perumbudur and Poonamalle which will be a greatest blessing for many people who travel from far away.Hope things turn positive soon.
Arcot Road must be one of the busiest corridors in Chennai. I don't know the exact alignment of the Poonamalee to Luz corridor. Hope it runs on top of Arcot road. It will bring relief to 100s of 1000s of middle income people living there. We heard that Metro will take over the administration of MRTS as well. Hopefully the rolling stock of MRTS gets changed as well and made contemporary. The upkeep, cleaning, maintenance and safety of the stations should be privatized for both Metro and MRTS. This will ensure efficient operations compared to the service provided by the 'public servants' in Chennai.
What happened to Porur in the Luz to Poonamalle third line? Is it not thickly populated and growing area in the south west Chennai? Or doesn't it have any VVIP staying Or having theirs binami lands to make it into multicrore business?
Moolakkadai is wrongly shown above redhills. It is between Red Hills and Perambur. What is shown here migth be Puzhal camp.
Metro will take several years to get completed. In the meanwhile, to get more people to use such modes of public transport, MRTS coaches should move from standard EMUs to airconditioned EMUs. I am sure that ICF will be able to manufacture such coaches. If MRTS switches to A/C coaches people who otherwise use private transportation might get tempted to switch to public transportation. Secondly MRTS stations should have effective feeder services to improve the 'last mile' connectivity. Currently the MRTS stations are isolated and one does not see an effective surface transportation system, that ferries people home. Making that happen will be a challenge.
If the Metro system in Chennai is to be of international standards then please take the management and building of it from the locals. They don't have the experience nor the expertise to complete a project as big as this. The local authorities don't even have the expertise to build proper toilets. One just needs to look at the state of MRTS in place. They are poorly designed and now resemble giant dustbins. Please give it to some international company with a proven track record. Our current politicians are fit only for cutting ribbons in the opening ceremony.
The MRTS train is running on the elevated corridor between Beach to Velacherry. The new MRT lines now announced (second phase) and the first phase already being undertaken should be completed in time without giving long trouble to the Road traffic in CHENNAI(MADRAS) city. Commuters will be much happy to travel in the MRT in Madras city.
I would also urge the government to bring into one pass / ticket option that is in smart card format which people can use on multiple modes of transport..say some one starting from Madipakkam to go to Kilpauk, can use bus to Velachery and MRTS to Mylapore and Metro to Kilpauk on the same card. Only convenience can make people switch to mass transit, If they have to have different pass or stand in different Queue any modes of transportation will not have patronage.
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