Registered with the Registrar of Newspapers for India under R.N.I 53640/91
Vol. XXVII No. 23, March 16-31, 2018
The Missing Link
In the 1980s, Madras pioneered in India the elevated railway system, MRTS, the Mass Rapid Transport System. In the first phase, 8.55 km was constructed from Beach to Mylapore. The original estimate of around Rs. 55 crore overshot and ended with Rs. 269 crore due to much delayed construction.
Extension of this again got stuck with the State government treating it as a Central project and refusing to share a portion of the cost. The Tamil Nadu Government relented later and, over time, extended it to Velachery. Of course, prices had esclated, and the State ended up spending Rs. 769 crore.
The original plan was to connect Velachery with St. Thomas’ Mount just 5 km away. Of this around 4.5 km has been constructed, a small balance portion remaining unfinished due to litigation on the part of property owners demanding ever-increasing prices.
Connecting this stretch with St. Thomas’ Mount on the old Beach-Tambaram section, already connected with the Chennai Metro Rail Corporation (CMRL), will ensure convenient rail connectivity to Adyar, Mylapore or Triplicane from any point on the other two lines. The convenience and comfort lost in not doing this can only be imagined.
There are other anomalies: vast differences in pricing tickets by the Indian Railway (suburban and MRTS), CMRL and the state-run Metro Bus Transport Corporation (MTC). The CMRL charges Rs. 36 for travel from Anna Nagar to Ekkattuthangal. The parallel bus service is priced at Rs. 7.
There is no denying that the Indian commuter is price-conscious. Delhi Metro increased the fares twice during 2017; each time ridership suffered a sharp decline. But if this short link is completed, services coordinated and fares rationalised, commuters gaining familiarity with shorter travel time and higher comfort levels, would be willing to pay more for the better service and greater comfort.
This may happen sooner than I thought. The acquisition left is only a couple of hundred metres, I am told. The value of property involved has been zooming in two decades from around Rs. 10,000 a ground (2400 sq.ft) to over Rs. 4 crore today but Government is sorting out on a priority basis the issue, I understand, to pave the way for completing the project in quick time. – (Courtesy: Industrial Economist.)
