CMRL to Prepare DPR for Coimbatore’s New Metro System
Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister K Palaniswami yesterday made a short announcement that the state government has appointed Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a new metro system in the city of Coimbatore. According to the press release, the project will be funded by the state government and central government with financial assistance from Germany’s KfW Development Bank.
As per the 2011 census, Coimbatore had more than a 1 million residents in its core city and 2 million residents in the metropolitan (urban agglomeration) region. A Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system has been in the works since 2008, but little progress has been made on its development with the administration not being able to finalize routes due to construction viability issues on the city’s narrow roads, indifferent attitude and buzz surrounding the proposed metro system over the past decade.
The metro system’s development comes as a surprise announcement not just for residents but for local administrators as well. Just earlier this week, the municipal corporation’s commissioner reached out to an Indo-German Smart Initiative group to prepare a detailed project report for the city’s BRTS project.
In October 2015, the city’s municipal corporation submitted a ‘City-wide Concept Plan for Coimbatore’ to the Government of India’s Smart Cities Challenge and that gives an idea of some of the routes on which a metro system could possibly be developed –
Line-1: Kaniyur to Ukkadam Bus Stand (along Avinashi Road) – 26 km
Line-2: Bilichi to Ukkadam Bus Stand (along Mettupalayam Road) – 24 km
Line-3: Karanampettai to Thannerpanthal (along Trichy Road and Thadagam Road) – 42 km
Line-4: Ganeshapuram to Karunyanagar (along Sathyamangalam Road and Perur Road) – 44 km
All four have been mapped out below –
Mass transit routes proposed by Coimbatore’s Municipal Corporation
No further details on the DPR’s timeline have been announced, and it is likely to take more than a year to get finalized and placed before the state government’s cabinet for its approval.
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– TMRG
I am from Coimbatore, and although i love the concept of a Metro in my city, there is no where near the required demand for a sustainable metro in the city. This might be forward thinking planning, but not sure about the financial viability of such a project. Lets see what the DPR brings out.
Also what about a feasibility study before DPR ? has it been done ?
From Coimbatore center which ever main road you travel for 20KMs there is no gap. More than city area, satellite towns are also expanded. Mettupallyam road till Narashimanaiken palyam and Periyanaiken palayam got developed. In Trichy road, Sulur had nicely expanded. Avinashi road and Sakthi road also the same case. City growth also kind of reached Maruthamalai foothills. As lines cover all these areas, I think it will successful.
Hello bro sakthiyamangalathuku poirukeengala sakthi roadla
Roadu fulla emptya irrukum
Oru time poi parunga
Enga bro emptya irukum. Peak hours la saravanampatty thandave 1hour pakkama aidum
Navnit – no feasibility has been conducted which is out of the norm. They’ve gone straight to the DPR stage.
Financial viability is a huge, huge concern. Vijayawada’s operator is now considering a LRT system – an entire year after JICA pulled out over similar concerns. Kochi’s operator is pulling all the right moves with putting in place various last mile connectivity solutions and inter-modal connectivity options, but it’ll be a couple more months before the results are out.
Your are absolutely right, also i wouldn’t take these announcements seriously. These ministers will say anything. Lets wait for word from CMRL before completion. And yeah Kochi’s attitude also impressed me. This is something CMRL is lacking, and it can be seen in their ridership.
As for Coimbatore, i am happy they are talking about metro, but they need to tread carefully.
I am glad that CBE is going to get Metro. Woohooo…
Surprisingly I don’t see any route towards Pollachi. May be the local train line got ready. But Metupalyam also already connected. In fact Mettupalayam and Pollachi they can cover using locals train itself.
Coimbatore has really good Bus transport system contributed by both Public and private operators. It should be strengthened with standardized BRT infrastructure unlike implemented in other counter parts of India. Again and again, NA cities are great example for BRT on even narrow corridors, yes running successfully. Unavailability of road space should not be a impediment for implementing BRT. It is always strong political will, effective governance and forward thinking which makes BRT a success. For BRT viability and affordability are close friends. Yes do agree on Kochi move on pulling all possible attributes to make metro a success. With BRT it comes a complete street design advantage. Coimbatore is already taking necessary steps to implement complete streets in some of corridors setting example for other cities. They also went forward to implement smart parking, dont know whats the progress is. Its crucial stage to understand the pros and cons of both systems to make a sustainable decision making. From the map, it can be learned that they are trying to connect suburban areas or may be future satellite towns which can be easily connected by sub-urban rail system(like MMTS in Hyderabad) while BRT contribute to core city(CCMC area) mobility needs, with possible future expansion.
I am glad that Government started thinking value added services for the city. This will give people a great relief from the ever crowded roads and pollution. However, thinking from the project perspective, for distances less than 40Km, LRT system to be considered. The ridership purely depends on the cost of the travel which is really challenging. In case of Chennai, the cost of travel for the same distance in bus and by metro is having vast difference (neglecting the comfort one has in train). Government should think this as service sector rather than revenue sector for the initial period to woo more ridership.Let us hope for the best from CMRL report and followed by Political will to bring the project.
Looks like bus operators probably are not happy about metro train in Kovai.
Government is planning to construct flyover from lic junction to airport on avinashi road then how
in this route metro is feasible, please let me know
Might be Underground
Metro best soon to kovai because of reaching certain places like Karunya u
niversity.reach through inroads is difficult
Kovai kuttralam siruvani…
I am civil engineer metro train is non for coimbatore because first government is not proper planned the master plan gandhipuram fly over is waist project it cannot properly planned public money is waisted according to that metro train project is waist in city there is no space to construction of metro project & under ground no way outer is not possible
I thought the metro would reach mettupalayam all the way unfortunately i didn’t
I would wish the track would expand in future ( in short time)
Metro will not be possible until 2040. The present flyover projects will take another 4-8 years to complete and no space for Metro over or underground. Funny system.
Today is 21 July 2021 – four years over from the news date. Zero development in the Metro discussion. lol
As a biker of Coimbatorian, Avinashi road Lakshmi mills to Nilambur, In Trichy Road Sungam to Ondipudur, In Sathy Road !00 feet road signal to Saravanampatty if you ride with family in your bike or small car then you know the real ground situation. It’s very very hard to travel on evenings and especially on weekends. So Its very needy one to Coimbatore such as metro project.