A Talk in TCE- Why metro rail, and Madurai metro rail

Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE), a pioneering institute located in the temple city of Madurai, teaches and researches in 15 engineering departments. The college is known all over the country for its post graduate programme in the structural engineering, and I am one of the many beneficiaries. More than three decades ago, I had an opportunity to study the PG course in the college, and on 11 April 2023, I had another opportunity to give a talk in the valedictory function of the college’s Civil Engineering Association.

To the young and attentive audience, I talked about the ample opportunities open to the civil engineers within India and overseas. I further threw some light on the design and construction aspects of metro rail projects. I dealt with questions such as: (1) Why metro rail?; (2) How metro rails are different to mainstream rail; and (3) Madurai metro rail will connect which parts of the city?

Why metro rail?

Metro rail provides a public transport which is fast, reliable, convenient and efficient. It could well be integrated with other forms of public and private transport. It consumes less energy, emits less carbon, and noise level is far lower than the other modes of transport. It is more reliable and punctual. The train cars are fully airconditioned, and reduces the journey time by 50% to 75% when compared to road transport. It carries same traffic as that of seven lanes of buses or 22 lanes of private cars.

How metro rail is different to main stream rail?

The metro trains are faster than the mainstream or intercity trains; metro trains are cleaner, air conditioned and dissects across the arterial roads of the city. And everyone is aware of these facts. Some other differences are more important. Years ago, trains used to run on ‘metre-gauge’. That is, the width of the tracks was 1 metre. To increase the capacity in the train bogies the width of the tracks was later widened to ‘broad-gauge’. The width of a broad-gauge is 1.676 metre. The current intercity trains and suburban trains run on such broad-gauge tracks only.

Metro rail adopts ‘standard-gauge’. The width of this is more than the metre-gauge, but less than the broad-gauge. The width is 1.435 metre. As the metro rail is running inside the over congested parts of the city there is likely to be more sharp curves. Only with a standard-gauge sharp curves can be manoeuvred easily. And can run faster than on a broad-gauge.

Next difference is, the metro train stations are meant for commuting inside the city. So, they are situated pretty close to each other. The distance between two stations is generally one to one-and-a-half kilometre. Not only the inter-space between the stations, the running time between two successive trains, called ‘headway’, is also less. The frequency of metro trains in Chennai is between 6 minutes to 14 minutes interval.

In cities like Hong Kong, where 90% of the people use public transports there is a metro train for every 2 minutes in peak hours. For Chennai metro, depending upon the future requirements the frequencies can be increased. It is designed keeping this factor in mind.

Next, intercity trains and suburban trains are operated by the Indian Railways and it is owned by the government of India. Whereas, the metro rails are owned by the respective state governments. Chennai metro is a property of the Tamil Nadu government, as also Madurai and Kovai metros in future.

There is another major difference between intercity and metro trains. The former mostly runs at-grade. The latter runs on elevated viaducts or bored tunnels, because it pierces through a developed city. Whilst most of the metro rail in India are elevated, nearly one-half of the first phase of the Chennai metro runs underground.

Madurai Metro Rail

Madurai metro rail’s feasibility report was completed in November 2022 according to which its phase 1 will be 31 km long and run between Thirumangalam and Othakadai with 20 stations, and a train maintenance depot at Thirumangalam. The route has been planned through areas like Thirunnagar, Thiruparankundram, Mattuthavani and Pudur in elevated lines. Owing to the presence of the temple and other heritage buildings, the central portion around Vaigai River and Periyar bus stand is likely to be underground.?The detailed project reprt (DPR) has been initiated and likely to be completed in December 2023. The route and station locations will be further refined in the DPR. In the recent budget, the state government has sanctioned Rs.8,500 crores for the project. The construction is planned to be completed by 2027. Phase 2 will connect city's airport with Kattapuli Nagar and Phase 3 will connect Manalur with Palkalai Nagar

Acknowledgement

I thank Dr. M. Palaninatharaja, the principal; Dr. K. Sudalaimani, the head of the Civil Engineering department; Er. Indrajith Krishnan, assistant professor and staff advisor of the Civil Engineering Association; and faculty and students of the civil engineering department for the elaborate arrangements and for giving me an opportunity to talk in my alma mater.