Comments
After the ‘Metro Man’ E. Sreedharan’s wakeup call that time has come for Coimbatoreto have a metro rail transport system to decongest traffic, hopes of the citizens here have soared.
The State’s Five-Year Plan prepared by the State Planning Commission for 2012-17 also spoke of mono rail network connecting various parts of Chennai and tier II cities and upgrading existing airports in Coimbatore, Tiruchi and Madurai to international standards. While participating at a meeting organised by the Residents Awareness Association of Coimbatore (RAAC) last week, Sreedharan, Principal Advisor, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said mass transport system should be planned taking into view its traffic requirements for the next 50 years. His suggestion was to opt for a mix of elevated rail system where roads are wide and underground lines in areas where roads are narrow.
He was of the view that for Coimbatore, a medium duty metro rail system was more suitable as it could carry 40,000 passengers per hour and it was fast, safe and reliable. A detailed project report will have to be prepared first which would take up to a year.
Speaking to Business Line , C.R. Swaminathan, President, RAAC, estimated that preparation of report will cost about Rs 8 lakh/per km. He said DMRC was willing to prepare the report. He said on an average about 800-1000 buses ply from and into the city every day. If the metro rail project was implemented, this would de-congest the city enormously as the stations could be connected by mini-buses and the buses could operate up to the periphery of the city leaving the main roads free from congestion.
But what the State Government should do now is not to view the metro project in isolation but develop an integrated infrastructure development plan involving development of Coimbatore airport, construction of flyovers in important junctions in the city and the metro rail project.
Airport
The expansion of the runway in Coimbatore airport for which land acquisition was urgently required to be taken up was also in limbo, he said. The modernisation of the terminal building was done at a huge cost but expansion of the runway could not be taken up for want of additional land.
The airport, despite carrying the tag of an international airport, provides service to only two overseas destinations — Sharjah and Singapore.
Swaminathan said if flights were operated from Coimbatore to Dubai, they would provide convenient access to Europe and the US since Dubai was a key international hub for air travel. If the airport runway was not expanded to meet the norms, it faced the threat of losing its international status, he said.
Another problem plaguing the city is the absence of flyovers at important junctions on major arterial roads, he said. The Gandhipuram flyover project was announced in 2010 by the then Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at the World Classical Tamil Conference held in the city. But project work is yet to begin reportedly because of design changes. The Coimbatore municipal corporation also proposed an integrated bus stand at Gandhipuram but this also has not taken off.
The Governor’s address in 2011 also said the State would prepare a ‘Vision 2025 Document for Tamil Nadu’ to `identify and remove’ bottlenecks in development and prioritise critical infrastructure projects. It is time that this was done for Coimbatore, he added.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.