FINALLY, END TO CHENNAI’S TRAFFIC WOES IS JUST SIX YEARS AWAY...

The Rs 14,600-cr Chennai Metro Rail may help decongest roads and make commute unbelievably quicker, but the 46-km two-corridor mass rapid transit network is also going to be an ambitious engineering feat that is all set to change the skyline of the growing city.
For a city that is only familiar with flyovers and clove leaf-shaped grade separators, the metro rail is going to be special in many ways. Its elevated viaducts are going to soar over bus sheds of Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus and also over the clove leaf-shaped grade separator at Kathipara, while the underground corridor will have to be built under the highly congested Broadway.
Deputy chief minister M K Stalin, while inaugurating the piling work for the construction of an elevated viaduct from Koyambedu to Ashok Nagar on Wednesday, said: “It has set a record among contemporary projects as the fastest in reaching financial closure, by securing Japanese government funding in 12 months and Central government funding in 14 months. The same process has taken more than two-and-a-half years in other cities. The government is committed to sustaining this pace and making the project operational by 2014-15.”
A daunting task lies ahead for engineers — different soil conditions, a high water table, construction along one of the most busiest stretches, tunnelling underneath flyovers, railway lines and others. The soil type varies in Chennai: sandy, clay type, loose soil, highly flowing clay, among others.
“Pile load test is the most important and crucial aspect of construction of elevated stretches of the corridors. This is because soil conditions are different and water table is high as is the case with Mumbai. Engineers will have to monitor the soil condition and behaviour of pile loads every couple of hours to identify the depth to which pile foundation should be sunk at each and every point of the elevated stretch,” said a senior official of Metro Rail.
Once piles are sunk, loads to the tune of two to three tons will be applied on the pile. The impact of the weight will be monitored every two to three hours. If it sinks, more digging will be done and load tests carried out. Such tests will be conducted at three or four locations. Once the depth is identified, the pile will be fixed and a pile cap installed. The column will be built over the pile cap. A concrete beam will then be constructed over the columns to hold a pre-cast viaduct, on which ballastless tracks will be laid. The Metro Rail corridor-II alignment will be along an elevated structure after Thirumangalam, up to St Thomas Mount, a stretch that will see piledriving work and piers being installed in the coming months.
Route alignment has been fixed only after carrying out a detailed soil test, but more tests are needed at every stage of building the foundation for the elevated tracks. The official also said that Chennai Metro Rail would be using the most modern technology in which the drawbacks faced in the Delhi project have been corrected.
Pile load tests are elaborate. Pile depth can go up to 27 metres at Koyembedu and less than 10 metres in the rocky terrain at St Thomas Mount and also Kathipara. As the metro rail is going to be intensely used, ballastless tracks made of longwelded head-hardened rails will be laid to minimise maintenance.
Though works on underground section will be finalised only after a general consultant carries out a detailed study, Metro Rail has decided that tracks will be 12 metre below ground level along the tube and 12.5 metre below ground level at stations.
The official said that the alignment and stations were designed to minimise disruption or displacement of existing buildings. Nevertheless, civic agencies and state government bodies have been told not to start works on subways and other facilities till Metro Rail’s final alignment is decided.
THE MAKING OF METRO RAIL WHAT Chennai Metro Rail will be a 2-corridor 46-km mass rapid transit facility. First corridor will connect Washermanpet to airport and the second Chennai Central to St Thomas Mount. Stretches of Washermanpet-Saidapet and Chennai Central-Thirumangalam will be underground WHY Chennai has grown rapidly and so has the traffic. The project aims at providing a fast, reliable, modern, convenient and economical mode of public transport which can be integrated with other forms of private and public transport including suburban trains and MRTS HOW Trial pile load tests have begun in three spots between Koyembedu and Ashok Nagar to build elevated viaducts. Soil tests will determine the depth at which pile structure should be installed. Columns will come up on it and beams fixed over them for laying of tracks WHEN The project has been scheduled for completion by 2015. When fully functional, the city will have the most sophisticated transport system that will make commute quicker and also link major railway stations to the airport. Commute from Mannadi to the airport will take just 40 minutes
US VERSUS THEM
Kolkata | The idea of building an underground railway was conceived way back in 1949. But it took more than three decades to complete the project that covers a length of 97.5 km
Delhi | Phase I of the Metro Rail project, covering 65 km, was completed in November 2006 at a cost of Rs 10,571 crore. Phase II works are on
Mumbai | Metro project will connect Versova and Ghatkopar (12 km). The project is estimated to cost Rs 2,300 crore BYPASSING CONGESTION 46 The total number of kilometres the two corridors of Metro Rail will cover. Underground tracks will be 12m deep 34^The scheduled speed of the train in kmph. Busy stations will have one train every 2.5 min, others every 15 min 4 The number of coaches in each train. As many as 1,038 passengers can be accommodated in a train 19 The number of hours Metro Rail will operate in the city. Services will begin at 5 am and end at midnight

-source from PROPERTYNICE.COM

Chennai Metro Rail Work already started....

Elections over, Chennai Metro Rail Limted (CMRL) is all set to go ahead with the construction of the mass rapid transit system in the city.
The Hyderabad-based Soma Enterprises has already started preliminary works to build elevated viaducts from Koyaembedu to Ashok Nagar. Chennai Metro Rail will soon float more tenders to identify companies to construct the rest of the elevated portions including the stretch from Ashok Nagar to St Thomas Mount which comes under Corridor II between Chennai Central and St Thomas Mount.
The corridor starts from Chennai Central and passes through EVR Periyar Salai, Vepery, Kilpauk Medical College, Aminjikarai, Shenoy Nagar, Anna Nagar East, Anna Nagar Tirumangalam, Koyambedu, CMBT, Inner Ring Road, Vadapalani, Ashok Nagar, SIDCO and Alandur and ends at St Thomas Mount.
“Initial discussions are on to float the tenders. We need to float two or three tenders because a single tender will not be enough to handle the works,” an official said. Soma Enterprises has started works on the Koyambedu-Vadapalani-Ashok Nagar stretch, where the rail will run along the median of 100 feet road. The Rs 199.2 crore work was awarded to the company in February. “Soil tests have already started,” the official said.
CMRL wants to complete the tender process for elevated portions of corridor II so that companies who win the bids will be able to start works simultaneously from different points. Metro Rail has set up a five- member consortium led by Egis Rail SA, France as general consultants, who will assist in design, supervision, quality control, safety and contract management. “Design and alignment of underground portions of the two corridors will be finalised and tenders will be awarded only after the general consultants submit their report,” the official added.
“The services will have the potential to take 16 buses and 300 cars and 600 motorcycles off the roads. The two routes together will take off 30 lakh commuters off the road,” Metro Rail managing director T V Somanathan said.
Metro Rail will have interconnecting stations at Fort, Central, Egmore, Guindy, Alandur, St Thomas Mount and Koyambedu bus terminus. Metro Rail’s elevated corridor will pass over the Kathipara flyover and proceed as an elevated stretch till the airport. “We are planning to take it as an elevated stretch so that it will be on level with the first floor departure section of the passenger terminals at the airport,” Somanathan added.

-source from PROPERTYNICE.COM

View of Kathipara cloverleaf

this was much good less free traffic than before....worker are still doing for furnishing the green environment for garden and lawn entire this flyover....

One bus every 15 minutes, MTC plans optimum utilisation of existing fleet

In a move to circumvent decreasing revenue, the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) plans to divert buses that ply on city routes
to moffussil areas during non-peak hours. The suggestion was formally agreed upon at a board meeting of the corporation on Friday, sources in the department said.

According to Atulya Misra, transport department secretary, many buses
have been plying half-empty during non-peak hours, badly affecting the corporation's revenue. "So, we plan to divert buses from prominent routes to moffussil areas during non-peak hours. We can thus increase frequency of bus services on these routes and get better patronage," Misra said.

The move, Misra pointed out, was aimed at having one bus in 15 minutes on almost all routes. "If the passenger is assured of a 15-minute-frequency service, he will not have a problem depending on bus services," he said.

According to officials sources, many buses are currently allotted to prominent routes. Though the buses get over-crowded during peak hours, they run almost empty during non-peak hours.

"The service will now function on a need basis. Such routes will have more buses during office, college and school hours. The buses will then ply on routes that have lesser frequency. The diversion will help people who come to the city for shopping and other work, activity which is not scheduled," Misra said. Officials believe that the move will help get rid of complaints, of not having enough buses to remote routes. It will also help the corporation manage its fleet and put it to optimum use without spending funds on new buses in times of difficulty.

Misra said the corporation was trying its best to boost revenue. "Advertisements are a major source of income. Our AC buses are primarily operated using revenue from advertisements. However, companies are yet to consider buses as a good advertising option. There has been reasonably good response from advertisers for space at bus stops, however. "Efforts are on to attract more companies to advertise on buses," he added.

-source from THE TIMES OF INDIA

MTC implements mass PIS in Chennai

Chennai would soon be the first metro to get a mass passenger information system, in its public transport system, in the country. The
state run passenger transport buses in the metro are being fitted with GPS (global positioning systems) that will enable passengers to track buses on their mobile phones, bus stops and on the internet.

“That is just the beginning. What is envisioned is a full fledged modern passenger information system (PIS),” said Ashok Leyland (ALL) Telematics business unit president Jayaram Krishnan. The company is a major supplier of passenger fleets to Metropolitan transport corporation (MTC), the PSU which runs city transport buses in Chennai. “The PIS will include sensors at the entry and exit door steps, automatic ticketing, audio and video announcement systems at bus stops, driver alarms on vital engine parameters and recording of engine diagnostics for future reference.”

The main difference between this project and other GPS projects is that others are used for tracking by fleet owners, while this one would be used for passenger information. Bangalore metropolitan transport corporation (BMTC) had implemented a GPS-based passenger information system in its air-conditioned Volvo buses two years back. But, Chennai will be the first city to implement it in mass transport.

ALL’s Telematics unit, which was formed late in 2006, has been the programme manager for this project, whose technical aspects were being worked on by Ohm Infotech, Siemens and Lattice Bridge Information Systems. The project was implemented on a pilot of 100 city buses initially. Presently, 600 buses are connected in this system, with LED displays for tracking them at 51 bus stops in the city.

“Buses in select routes have the GPS facility now. It will be gradually extended to 1500 buses by the end of the year, and to the whole fleet (5000 buses including the ongoing fleet addition) in two years,” a spokesperson of MTC said. The transport department has also submitted proposals to extend the initiative to 300 buses each in Madurai and Coimbatore by the end of the year.

“The first phase of implementation – till 1500 buses, will cost Rs.2 crore, of which Rs.1.5 crore will be funded by a grant from the centre given for e-governance, and the rest by MTC’s internal accruals,” said Pallavan transport consultancy services (PTCS) MD Pandian.

The GPS product, priced at Rs.14000 per unit by ALL, is, being implemented on a public-private-partnership model. While MTC bears the capital expenditure, ALL will bear the operating expenditure, which will be amortised over a five-year period.

- source from THE ECONOMIC TIMES.

A/c Volvo Buses Departure Time Schedule

http://www.mtcbus.org/ACBusesTimeSchedule.asp

enjoy with pure chennai air with friendly environment and safe journey.