This is how an elevated metro rail station would look - a two-level station with the first level dedicated for ticket counters and traffic integration, about two escalators/elevators per station, and an aesthetic all-weather roofing. A few of them would have parking lots and many would be fed by feeder bus services.
By October 2013, a passenger would be able to climb up the four-storeyed metro station at Koyambedu and reach the St.Thomas Mount station within 19 minutes.
Most of the elevated stations would look similar to the ones that dot the 189-km long Delhi Metro network. A senior Chennai Metro Rail Limited official said that the design of the stations would be “simple” and “functional”.
Biggest elevated stations
The stations at Alandur and St.Thomas Mount would be the biggest elevated stations in the city, but they would still be only about three-fourths the size of the underground Chennai Central metro station. While one metro corridor would go above another at Alandur, the metro station at St.Thomas Mount would come on top of an MRTS station.
12 storeyes
At both these locations, where double-decker metro stations are slated to be built, the second station would be over 12 storeys tall. At Alandur, the tracks of both corridors would flare out to form island platforms, facilitating direct inter-platform transfer.
Most of the space beneath the Alandur station would be available for parking.
The other locations where land has been identified for providing parking facilities include Vadapalani, St.Thomas Mount, Thirumangalam and Arumbakkam, the CMRL official said.
He added that feeder bus services would be operated all along the corridor to increase the catchment area of the metro. Some of the future feeder bus hubs are likely to come up at Thirumangalam, St.Thomas Mount and Alandur. Part of a team of CMRL officials who visited Bangalore's ‘Namma Metro' last week, the official said: “Bangalore has introduced AC feeder buses on many routes. It's a model that should be replicated in Chennai.”
Skywalks would come up at Ashok Nagar and Koyambedu, where a 100 metre-long elevated walkway would be used to disperse the crowd from the station. Apart from these, a covered ground-level walkway is set to be built near the Chennai Central metro station and a walkalator near the Chennai airport.
