The Hindu Business Line : Rail-based traffic system mooted for Kochi

The Indian Institute of Architects, Cochin Centre, feels a Metro Rail System of the Delhi Metro kind is unsuitable for Kochi. Instead, its members have mooted a mass transport system based on the regular railway line.

V.Sajeev Kumar

The Indian Institute of Architects, Cochin Centre, has said that there is an urgent need for a rail-based mass transport system for the city of Kochi instead of the proposed Metro Rail System of the Delhi Metro Corporation kind, as the former would be more economical and easy to implement.

The Institute, which had carried out a study in this regard, pointed out that the Metro Rail System would have a high cost of implementation and Kochi did not have funds for such a big project. Besides, the project would be crippled under the tax burden of repaying the loans needed to finance the venture.

The routes suggested for the proposal would cut through existing roads, reducing their width and increasing the congestion. The stations, shops and interchanges occur at areas that are already highly built-up and congested. Moreover, the system’s coverage is less, leaving large sections of the urban population, the IT corridor or the airport out of theloop.

High dislocation or hindrance to the city traffic will be caused during its implementation, which may ultimately kill the city if the work gets extended. It is projected that tickets would cost in the range of Rs 50, an unrealistic rate for any public transport system in India.

It may be recalled that the Kerala Government decided to expedite the metro rail system for Kochi, as suggested by the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation that had submitted a report to the Government after conducting a feasibility study. The project could cover a distance of 35 km and is expected to cost roughly about Rs 2,000 crore. As the cost involved is high, the project is to be taken on BOT basis with State Government participation.

Details of proposal

However, instead of Metro Rail, the Institute has come up with an alternative — a new railway line connecting Nedumbassery Station near Cochin International Airport and the suburban Kurikkad Station to be laid parallel to the ring road. All long-distance trains can pass straight from Nedumbassery to Kurikad and deviate from there to proceed to the State Capital at Thiruvananthapuram via Kottayam or Alappuzha.

The Institute has said in the report that mass transportation refers to public-shared transportation such as buses, ferries, etc.

An important form of mass movement is rapid transport, such as subways and surface light rail systems designed for commuting between urban and suburban areas. It offers considerable savings in labour, materials and energy over the private transport system. It carries a far higher passenger load per unit of weight and volume than private vehicles. They also offer fuel savings and reduces road traffic to a great extent.

The efficiency of any urban system depends on the speed with which people and goods are carried from one place to another. The development of Kochi is also linked to infrastructure facilities and the carrying capacity of the area. Kochi is in urgent need of a mass transport system, as the city is experiencing exponential growth due to activities in the port sector as well as the IT industry. Under these circumstances, a viable means of public transport is the need of the hour to keep private vehicles off the road, to avoid congestion and chaos.

Network in Kochi

Kochi city is considered to be one of the few cities blessed with the availability of all modes of transport, such as road, rail, air and water. The transport network can be categorised as inter-city linkages, regional linkages, city-level traffic network. The inter-city linkages consist of the Cochin International Airport, the Kochi Harbour on a strategic international route and the broad-gauge rail links from Thiruvananthapuram and Shoranur. The National Highways comprises NH-47 (Thrissur-Thiruvananthapuram), NH-17 (Kochi-Kozhikode) and NH-49 (Kochi-Madurai).

However, the major problems identified in the road sector are narrow and congested city roads, the railway line dividing the city centre into two parts creating bottlenecks on the narrow Railway over-bridges and level crossings, absence of bus bays causing reduction in the road capacity, the increase in the number of personalised vehicles, which is estimated to be at the rate of 13 per cent annually.

Under the present circumstances, said the Institute, the development of a rail-based Mass Transport System is urgent. The development of water transport facilities for cargo, passenger movement, improvement of the road system and proper traffic management are necessary, along with the creation of the suburban rail-based mass transport system. Segregation of long distance passengers away from the city centre is also warranted as part of the traffic management.

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