Announcement on Coimbatore Metro to address traffic woes

March 22, 2023 05:55 pm | Updated 10:17 pm IST - COIMBATORE

The budget announcement on sanctioning of ₹9,000 crore to implement the first phase of the Coimbatore Metro project has come as a relief to the residents of the city who have been been plagued by traffic woes due to the steady rise in human and vehicular population year after year.

Two (out of five) corridors of the Coimbatore Metro to be brought under the Mass Rapid Transport System to a cumulative length of 40 km in the first phase is expected to provide a sure shot solution to the traffic bottlenecks in the city.

The Chennai Metro Rail Ltd., the Project Executing Agency (PEA) has identified the two corridors - a 26 km stretch from PSG Foundry to Ukkadam Bus Stand, and a 14 km stretch from the Collectorate to the Valiyampalayam Pirivu along Sathyamangalam Road - based on a feasibility report submitted by Systra MVA Consulting (India) and RITES.

As per the proposal, the two corridors will connect the city’s major landmarks. The first corridor will have stoppages at 18 places, including Neelambur, Airport (with a connectivity line), Coimbatore Medical College, Hopes College, Fun Republic Mall, GKNM Hospital, Collectorate Metro, Coimbatore Junction, and Ukkadam Bus Stand. The second corridor from the Collectorate to Valiyampalayam Pirivu will have 12 stoppages including Gandhipuram Bus Stand, Ganapathy Pudur, Ramakrishna Mills, Saravanampatti, and VGP Nagar.

The Coimbatore Metro project was initially envisaged as monorail, and converted to metro rail before getting finalised as a Metro Lite project with five corridors.

According to CMRL officials, the Phase I will take up to four years, beginning with land acquisition, to get over. The project under three phases provides for smooth interchange at airport, rail junctions and bus terminals. Once the approval for the two corridors under first phase is secured, the funding options will be explored, CMRL sources said.

The fully elevated construction will be taken up along any of the sides of the Avinashi Road where construction of a flyover is in progress, the sources added.

The Bilichi-Ukkadam stretch along Mettupalayam Road, Karanampettai-Thaneerpandhal stretch along Tiruchi-Thadagam roads, the left out stretches in the Ganeshapuram-Karunyanagar stretch along Sathyamangalam and Perur roads, and Vellalore-Ukkadam stretch via Poddanur and NH948 will be taken up under the second and third phases.

The CMRL had replied to an RTI (Right to Information) petition that the Phase 1 of the project is estimated to cost ₹9,424 crore.

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