Chennai: With an aim to improve mobility in the city, Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) has evolved a Master Plan for Chennai Metropolitan Area that envisages a 100-km rail network with multimodal transport system, announced Pankaj Kumar Bansal, MD, Chennai Metro Rail Limited .
Addressing the session on “Railway Connectivity and Urban Transport Solutions” at CII Suminfra 2016,he added that Chennai Metro believes in multi-modal integration strategy, which is factored right from project design and construction. This strategy provides access to metro railway stations for pedestrians, bicycles, bus, and pick up & drop off vehicles.
He mentioned that the share of public transport in Chennai has come down from about 50% in 1992 to 30% in 2014 and over 40% of transportation depends on private facilities. “In order to reduce congestion and bring down transportation cost and pollution, the city has to strengthen its public transportation system,” he said and added that CMRL’s Chennai Central Square, a 500 meter long hub, at Chennai Central, will act as a link traffic network.
In his address, Anil Kumar Saini, head, Railway Systems, L&T Metro Rail, Hyderabad, said that integration planning and multimodal integration is key to developing urban transport infrastructure. The integration should be done at all levels: physical, operational, fare, and information, under the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority’s framework that the Government of India is working on.
He said that excepting tramway, other mass transit systems like BRTS, LRTS, mono rail, and metro rail are suitable for Indian cities. However, cities must undertake feasibility studies, understand ridership pattern, future development, and rate of return before selecting the mode.
