RITES to build metro line connecting Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula

30 Nov 2022 CW Team

In the most recent feasibility study report, which was submitted to the UT administration, Indian Railways consulting firm RITES Ltd proposed a 64.3-km metro rail network connecting Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula.

The report recommends building the metro rail system in two phases. The first phase in Chandigarh consists of three corridors with a combined length of 44.5 km, including 16 km underground. In the second phase, the network will be extended to Mohali and Panchkula.

The idea for the metro rail system in Chandigarh was first floated in 2009, and the detailed project report (DPR), which cost Rs. 1.5 crores to produce, wasn't finished until 2012. Surveys were then conducted, and the initial phase was set to begin in 2013.

However, the Ministry of Home Affairs ultimately rejected it in 2017 because Member of Parliament (MP) Kirron Kher opposed it in 2014 and asserted that it would uproot the city.

After a year, the MRTS plans were reinstated in August 2021 when the UT administration made the decision to pursue a new, all-encompassing mobility strategy.

Compared to its population of over 12 lakh, Chandigarh has the largest number of registered cars per home in the country—34 lakh—which results in traffic jams and snarls. Additionally, on interstate roads, more than two lakh vehicles pass through the city every day.

This growing problem is intended to be addressed by the extensive mobility plan provided to RITES in December of last year.

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