Indian Railways approves merger of Chennai MRTS with Metro Rail

Naomi Pandya Posted on: 2022-05-16 07:05:00 Viewer: 3,576 Comments: 0 Country: India City: Chennai

Indian Railways approves merger of Chennai MRTS with Metro Rail

Chennai, India (Urban Transport News): The Southern Railway of Indian Railways (IR) has given its in-principal approval for a long-awaited merger proposal of the Chennai Mass Rapid Transit System with Chennai Metro Rail owing to huge losses and a lack of coordination between the two authorities. “Southern Railway (SR) has given in-principle approval for handing over MRTS to CMRL during a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Irai Anbu on May 11,” said a government official.

The decision for the merger of MRTS with Chennai Metro Rail Ltd (CMRL) was put on the table after 2018, due to differences between the Tamil Nadu Government and IR's Southern Railway (SR), overland acquisition to lay a new MRTS line between Beach and Park Stations. “That issue will not be linked with Metro taking over MRTS. MRTS has been reporting Rs 100 crore operational loss every year” the official said. 

Connecting the central business area of old Madras with the IT corridor, the MRTS has a potential capacity of 4,25,000 passengers a day. The 15-km alignment covers several significant landmarks in the city and has 18 stations. The Phase-II extension of 5-km, when completed, will add three more stations, linking the Metro corridors with MRTS and suburban rail networks.

“The decision to integrate MRTS with CMRL will help the city to work on multi-modal planning better. These stations are in high potential locations and the government should ensure improving station accessibility from neighbourhood level,” says Sivasubramaniam Jayaraman, national lead-electric mobility and transport systems, senior program manager of the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP).

Now Chennai Metro could take into consideration the non-tariff revenue from stations. “A blueprint was prepared nearly 12 years ago to develop 190,000 sq m of commercial space in the nine stations, but the plan was never implemented,” said Krishna Kumar, a former member of Chennai Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (CUMTA). 

"The merger was a long-pending issue and the government should conduct a feasibility report on ensuring the same system of track and signalling can be implemented in the MRTS stretch," commented Former CMRL chief general manager Somasundaram.





Also Read




Leave Your Comment!









Recent Comments!

No comments found...!