Integrated Public Transport for Chennai

Recently, there have been many comments in the media on the suitability of Metro rail or Monorail for Chennai. There are also studies being carried out for a BRT system at grade on some corridors in Chennai. Each system has its own merits and demerits and no single mode can be the solution for a city like Chennai, with its mix of only a few wide roads and many narrow but still busy roads.

Metro rail is the most expensive, but at the same time it has the highest capacity and speed potential. World experience is that on corridors with likely traffic density of 30,000 and over PHPDT, Metro rail is necessary. BRT, which is most cost effective, has also reached such capacity in some Latin American cities. Such corridors would have four dedicated bus (BRT) lanes on the median, one pair for the slower buses and the other pair for faster limited stop buses or for overtaking. Metro rail is more expensive, especially if it has to go underground. If it can be elevated, which is possible on roads with ROW of 25m and over, the overall cost will be about 25 per cent higher than Monorail. The Monorail structure being light is less costly, but the monorail vehicle cost will be more than that of a metro coach combination of equivalent capacity. For example, the Monorail under construction in Mumbai is estimated to cost about Rs.130 crore per kilometre.

A study of the cities where Monorail has been used would indicate that they have been used as airport links in major cities and for main corridors in Level II cities, especially in Japan, which have busy corridors. The highest ridership achieved in a direction appears to be 17,000 per hour by Chongziang Monorail in China. The longest line is a 28-km link from airport and to Osaka city carrying about 100,000 passengers a day. One of the earliest and busiest Monorail lines is the 17-km line from Tokyo airport to city and it carries a maximum of 300,000 passengers a day. Singapore has provided short Monorail loops serving their MRT stations in some neighbourhoods Thus, it is an ideal mode for medium density corridors and dedicated links and as a feeder mode.

Mumbai, the first city in India to implement Monorail, has adopted it for a line from Chembur to Jacob Circle, a length of about 19 km of which, it is learnt, trial runs are on in the first 8.26 km. There is a Master plan for the region, which includes 135 km of Monorail. At the same time, they are fast progressing on an East-West Metro line and have planned taking up a longer North-South line. They are also optimising and adding some parallel lines on the existing suburban lines and are laying extensions of the suburban lines in Navi Mumbai. Thus, they have gone in for a mix of modes to suit traffic density and ROW availability.

When the Monorail proposals were made in 2006 for Chennai, the main objection raised was about adopting it on very dense corridors like Anna Salai and Periyar Salai. Thankfully, now, the Metro rail corridors proposed on these two corridors will stay. While planning further, it is suggested that a specific traffic study is conducted to assess traffic corridor-wise. The denser corridors should be earmarked for future Metro rail links. A typical example is the Foreshore Estate-Porur-Poonamallee corridor via T’Nagar-Vadapalani.

The next level corridors, where Right of Way is adequate, BRT will be more cost effective, e.g. corridors like, Rajiv Gandhi Salai (OMR) and Anna Nagar-Madhavaram via IRR. The corridors with narrow roads and/or winding alignment at this level of traffic requirement will be best for Monorail.

The main advantage of Monorail is that its structure occupies minimum space. It need not necessarily be on the median. The up and down lines can be taken along the kerb on either side of the road and stations provided in between the two lines at intervals. On still narrower roads, a line in one direction can be taken on one road and the return direction line on a parallel road close by. To start with, old tramline corridors, excluding the lengths covered by the Metro rail under construction, will easily qualify for this mode with some modifications e.g. (i) Chennai Beach to Moolakkadai via Mint-Basin Bridge; ii) Purasawalkam-Vepery-Egmore; iii)Egmore-Chintadripet-Wallajah Road-Triplicane High Road-Barber’s Bridge; iv) Anna Salai-Royapettah High Road-Luz. Amongst new ones, an orbital line from Light House to Moolakkadai via Gemini, Nungambakkam, Kilpauk, and Perambur can be considered. Further, Monorail can be used as feeder mode in the suburbs and in a circular route in CBD as suggested by some senior experts.

The suggestions given above for different modal corridors are only indicative. In all cases, however, there should be proper intermodal transfer facilities provided wherever different mass transit modes (including MRTS and Suburban Rail) meet or cross each other. In addition feeder bus services will need to be provided at important stations.

Dr. S. Ponnuswamy
Addl. General Manager (Retd), Southern Railway
56, Venkatratnam Nagar Adyar,
Chennai 600 020

Of kavu and caves

I would like to add to some of Prof. Raman’s statements (MM, July 16th). The first built shrine could be a small structure similar to that for Chandikeswarar we find in Siva temples. Later, big structures similar to Garbagrahams were built. Praharas and gopurams were still later additions.

Regarding kavu and kaaba, kavu means a ‘shrine’ or ‘sanctuary’. But this word is not found in that sense in Tamil, Telugu or Kannada, the principal spoken Dravidian languages of the time. So it could be a word which has its roots in some other ancient language.

Similarly, kaaba is the name of the holiest shrine of Islam in Mecca. Nobody knows at what point of time it was built. So the name may have been in existence before Arab settlement of the Arabian Peninsula. Was kaaba also built within a forest? It is a windowless, single entrance structure, rectangular in plan and with flat roof.

It is stated by Alain Daniélou in his book ‘L’Histoire de l’Inde that the Arabian Peninsula was once a fertile land and became a desert at a later date. Was the Arabian Peninsula then occupied by a different race that practised a kind of religion which the Arabs who came later adopted. Perhaps so, when the kaaba was built

Al-Lat, al-‘Uzza and Manat, all female deities, in addition to numerous idols, were worshipped by the Arabs of Mecca during pre-Islamic period. The tribe Quraysh comprised the people in charge of the shrine called kaaba. The Prophet Mohammed belonged to that tribe.

The root of the French word ‘cave’ is given as cava in Latin according to the French dictionary Peitt Le Robert. The 1959 edition of Chamber’s Twentieth Century Dictionary also furnishes the derivative of the English word Cave as Latin. Are the words kavu, kaaba and cava derivatives of an unknown mother language?

From time immemorial some caves have been used as shrines for one or more deities.

S.N. Mahalingam
64-A, Kalamegam Street Extn.
SBI Colony II Street Kamarajapuram
Chennai 600 073

Whose responsibility?

While we agree with many of Prabha Sridevan’s observations (MM, June 16th), it must be stated that as regards the maintenance of the tenements, all the allottees together should have jointly organised a maintenance crew for upkeep, repairs, replastering, repainting, etc. of the buildings. There is lack of feeling and responsibility of ownership among the occupants which has led to over-all deterioration. The Tamil Nadu Slum Clearance Board should have supervised, monitored and controlled things.

K. Soundarraj &
Mrs Adhilakshmi Logamurthy
10/12, 8th Street Dr. Radhkrishnan Salai
Chennai 600 004

Change it back

I fully endorse the views of reader N.P. Andavan regarding our city’s name, i.e. Madras. Changing the name was a hasty decision like changing the Tamil New Year Day from April 14th to January 14th. It is high time the city name is changed back to Madras. Better late than never.

Sundaram
somasundararam@hotmail.com Chennai 600 017

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About the old debate on Chennai and Madras (MM, July 1st), one point needs to be made clear. In the Tamil context this city was always known as Chennai.

I studied in a Tamil medium school in a village and our lessons spoke about ‘Chennai’. If you see the Tamil magazines and dailies of the 1930s and even earlier, it was always Chennai. Railway timetables in Tamil and radio programmes mentioned Chennai. But there was this other name Madras also in use. So the city carried on with both names, Chennai in Tamil, Madras in English. What the Government of Tamil Nadu did was merely to jettison one name.

S. Theodore Baskaran
Asha Township Phase II
Dodda Gubbi Post
Bangalore 560 077

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I fully endorse the views and expressions of reader Jaidev in ‘Madras again’ (MM, July 16th). It is time to reconsider and bring back the name Madras. The name Madras still rings in the ears. We have constant reminders of Madras through Madras High Court, Madras Fertilizers, Madras University, Madras Central railway station, Madras Airport, IIT-Madras, Madras Race Club, Madras Club, Madrasis, Madras Musings! to mention a few.

Dr. H.K. Lakshman Rao
33, Krishnapuri, R.A. Puram
Chennai 600 028