The tricity will have to wait for at least a decade before expecting any respite from the ever-increasing traffic on city roads and adjoining townships in the form of a metro, worked out by the Rail India Technical Economic Services (RITES). The ministry of urban development has given hope for a metro in the city alone in the next five years.

Even if the work commences immediately, it would not meet the promise of Sukhbir Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab, for a metro network before the present Punjab government finishes its tenure.

“I am sure the metro will bring respite, but are we stuck with the problems of traffic for the coming decade? Is the government thinking about our immediate future?” a resident, Col RS Randhawa (retd) said.

The city alone adds 130-odd vehicles each day on its roads and it has about seven lakh registered vehicles. Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh are expected to prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) that will be assimilated into one for a comprehensive plan of action.

Experts feel the project could take a little longer as it envisages synchronising underground and elevated metro strictures. The UT has finalised the metro rail plan after spending years on working on details of a monorail project on an elevated structure.

The project is seen as the best alternative for decongesting rush at a number of places, particularly Madhya Marg, Mohali-Sector 17 route, Sector 22 (opposite ISBT), Tribune Chowk and Housing Board Chowk.

RITES had suggested five metro corridors for the tricity and the details are being finalised. Going by the volume of traffic on roads, Madhya Marg, Dakshin Marg, Jan Marg, Purv Marg and Udyog Marg would be sizeably touched at various places on the metro routes, official sources said. Train routes are being equally supplemented with complimentary bus stops near stations. At least three new bus terminals have been suggested at Sector 104 (SAS Nagar), Manimajra and Sector 31. The underpasses have been suggested near timber market on Madhya Marg and rotaries of Dakshin Marg and Jan Marg. Besides the tricity, the metro network would include Zirakpur, Kharar and Dera Bassi in Punjab, Kalka in Haryana and Baddi in HP.

Source: The Tribune