Tuesday, Apr 15, 2003
Tuesday, Apr 15, 2003 |
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Tamil Nadu
By S. Vydhianathan
The Minister, who is visiting the city on Wednesday to participate in the national-level Railway Week celebrations, will formally commence the project work on that day. Though the Railway Ministry has not allotted funds for the 98-crore project in the current budget, it has made a commitment to undertake the project. The State Government, which earlier gave an assurance of contributing 50 per cent of the project cost, subsequently informed the Railway Ministry that it could not share the cost. However, it has agreed to donate land near the Central Jail for the project. The actual work will start only in the next financial year after the Ministry allots funds and it will take at least three years for the link to complete if sufficient funds are allotted in the coming years. At present, these two terminals are connected by a circuitous and congested route via Beach, Royapuram, Washermenpet and Basin Bridge — a distance of 11.2 km. The new link will cut the distance to just 2.5 km. The proposed link will be similar to the existing Mass Rapid Transit System and there will be no station in between. According to the present alignment, the proposed line from Central will move along the Buckimham Canal and cross Poonamallee High Road and the existing Beach-Tambaram suburban lines before joining the existing suburban section near the Egmore station. A new platform at an elevated level will be constructed at Central. The new line may not be remunerative as the rate of return will be just two per cent. The Railway administration has no idea of the possible patronage as it has not conducted any passenger survey. The State Government, it is said, decided to withdraw the funding as it felt that the project would be of no use either to commuters or to long-distance passengers. In the past, the link was necessary when passengers bound for northern destinations from the south underwent the ordeal of transhipment as there was no direct train service. Now Nagercoil, Madurai, and Thiruvananthapuram have direct services bypassing Chennai. Even with a link between the two stations, long-distance passengers would continue to suffer as the proposed station at Central would be on an elevated structure, closer to the Basin Bridge station. The Metro Transport Corporation, which introduced a point-to-point service between these two terminals a few years ago, withdrew it following poor patronage. Besides, if the project comes through, the elevated structure may eclipse the view of the Central Station and the Ripon Building, two major heritage buildings in the city.
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