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T.E. Raja Simhan
M. Ramesh

Chennai, Aug. 17 After a delay of four years, the Thiruvanmiyur-Velachery stretch of the Mass Rapid Transit System is ready for inauguration. This is a crucial stretch for the MRTS, not only because it adds three more stations (Taramani, Perungudi, Velachery), and hence chunks of potential users to the system, but also because it will enhance the usability of the entire 20-km MRTS.

Today the patronage of Thirumayilai-Thiruvanmiyur part of the system is low because trains operate on a single track on this length. At present, the turnback facility is available only at Thirumayilai - a train from Beach can go up to Thirumayilai and switch over the return track, thereby clearing the onward track for other trains.

But a train that goes beyond Thirumayilai up to Thiruvanmiyur will have to return by the same track. Obviously, this affects the frequency as only one train can be run on the Thirumayilai-Thiruvanmiyur stretch at any point of time.

When Thiruvanmiyur-Velachery stretch becomes operational, this problem will ease, and hence the frequency could be increased.

Frequency is a critical factor in getting passengers to use the system. At present, even during the peak hours there is a train only once in 40 minutes.

Getting more passengers is crucial because even more than revenue from sales of tickets, higher footfalls will help faster commercialisation of the vast space at the stations. Between Beach and Velachery, there will be 17 stations (both terminus included).

Because of the length of trains and double track system, each station is a quarter km long and about 30 metres wide. This means, about 10,000 sq ft of space is available for exploitation on each floor at each station. At present, most of this is vacant. (This is because in its first experiment of commercialisation at the Chintadripet station, the railways ran into legal trouble with the leasee and it has turned out to be a classical case of ‘once bitten twice shy’ for the railways.)

But things will change.

Indeed, there is a plan to hand over all the station space to the newly-formed Railway Land Development Authority, a body meant for commercialisation of railway land.

Over time, people may see a bank or a few ATMs, Saravana Bhavan or a Woodlands and perhaps even a government office that interfaces (say TNEB) with the public at these MRTS stations. For commerce to flourish you need footfalls and that is where the criticality of Thiruvanmayur -Velachery lies.

Soon after MRTS is made operational up to Velachery, work will begin on the Velachery-St Thomas Mount stretch. Save a half km of this 5-km stretch, the MRTS will be an elevated track system, supported by pillars down the median of a road. The last half km is where Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority will have to acquire land.

If all goes well, St Thomas Mount will become a major railway station – a hub where lines going out of Chennai, two lines of Chennai Metro, MRTS and a link to the airport will meet.

As it is, the next phase of Mass Rapid Transit System will terminate at St Thomas Mount. Over time, trains coming into the city from South will also stop at St Thomas Mount. (Don’t worry, There will be escalators and travelators (flat escalators) to move passengers around.)

The first step in the grand scheme, for which costs have to be estimated, will be to bring the MRTS to St Thomas Mount. Work on the Rs 495-crore, 5 km elevated track project will begin soon after the Thiruvanmayur -Velachery link is made operational.

The Rs 18,000-cr Chennai Metro project envisages to double track lines terminating at St Thomas Mount. One will begin at Washermanpet and run partly underground. The other, from Koyembadu, will be almost entirely on elevated track.

More Stories on : Railways | Urban Development | Infrastructure | Tamil Nadu

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