Chandigarh to have two-coach Metro, not Metrolite

Advertisement

Chandigarh, January 30

On the advice of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, all stakeholders have agreed to have a two-coach Metro system in the tricity.

Changes suggested

RITES modifies alignment near railway station along the proposed Metro corridor 1 and connectivity of Zirakpur to Panchkula via proposed Metro corridor 2

During a meeting held on January 15 in Delhi, the ministry asked the stakeholders to consider a two-coach Metro for the proposed mass rapid transit system (MRTS) network in Chandigarh tricity instead of Metrolite. This has been agreed by all stakeholders i.e. Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, said UT Adviser-cum-Home Secretary Nitin Yadav, after a RITES team made a presentation here on Tuesday on the traffic and system selection report submitted in December 2023.

During the meeting, RITES presented the modified alignment near railway station along the proposed Metro corridor 1 and connectivity of Zirakpur to Panchkula via proposed Metro corridor 2.

In principle, all stakeholders have agreed to the suggested modifications. However, the UT Adviser has advised that a formal confirmation in this regard would be done in the next meeting of the Unified Metropolitan Transport Authority (UMTA).

As desired by the ministry, the UT Urban Planning Department will submit the relevant Acts, legislations etc. regarding the heritage aspects for not allowing the construction of elevated structures in the city.

Regarding confirmation on depot land of about 21 hectares in New Chandigarh, near Paroul, officers of Punjab apprised that this land was delisted PLP land (Punjab Land Preservation Act). They would re-examine the possibility of making this land parcel available for the proposed Metro depot.

Yadav asked them if this land parcel was not made available then an alternative land parcel satisfying the technical requirements for Metro depot should be identified and informed to RITES under intimation to the Chandigarh Administration at the earliest so that further work could be carried out accordingly by RITES. The study for the preparation of alternatives analysis report and detailed project report for phase 1 MRTS network of tricity (Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali) was allotted to RITES Ltd. The traffic and system selection report was submitted by RITES in December 2023.

The corridors in the first phase include routes from Paroul (New Chandigarh) to Sector 28, Panchkula — 32.20 km with 26 stations; from Sukhna Lake to ISBT Zirakpur via Airport – 36.4 km with 29 stations; and from Sector 39 to Transport Light chowk via Tribune Chowk — 13.8 km.