The much-awaited draft of the comprehensive mobility plan (CMP) to assess the need for mass rapid transport system (MRTS) in Chandigarh has been submitted to the UT Administration.
Though a need for having MRTS in Chandigarh has been felt from 2004, it was only in early 2008 when the Chandigarh administration had received ‘in-principle approval’ from the urban development ministry to prepare a CMP for MRTS in Chandigarh. RITES had been appointed as the consultants by the Chandigarh administration for preparing the draft.
In the meeting held under the chairmanship of UT Finance Secretary, Sanjay Kumar, RITES has presented the draft CMP for Chandigarh covering aspects related to metro routes, BRT corridors, grade separators, NMT pathways, ROB/RUBs, integrated freight complex, parking facilities and cost and revenue modes for the entire project.
The proposed MRTS project including metro, bus rapid transit system (BRTS) and commuters rail service (CRS), has been estimated to be Rs15, 000crore. The project would take four years to materialise.
RITES has proposed that the metro would cover a distance of 52.4 km, of which 40.4 km will be in Chandigarh and the rest in Mohali. The alignments have been proposed both above ground as well as underground. While the underground system is likely to cost Rs 320 crore per km, the surface alignment is likely to cost Rs 140 crore per km. To begin with, frequency for the metro has been proposed at every 10 minutes, which could be reduced to 3 minutes with passage of time.