THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: If the ambitious monorail project envisaged for the city pans out perfectly, Attingal would evolve as a satellite city of Thiruvananthapuram.The meeting convened by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Monday to review the progress of the monorail project, which was okayed by the Cabinet last month, decided to extend the monorail traffic facility to Attingal via Technocity, adding another 15 km to the earlier plan. The monorail traffic system, which is a rail-based transportation system based on a single-rail, was originally planned for Kazhakkoottam to Balaramapuram covering a total of 28.4 km.At Monday’s meeting, it was decided to extend the facility to Attingal and use the already acquired land for Technocity to set up a yard for the monorail.The NATPAC (National Transportation Planning and Research Centre), which has been entrusted with the feasibility study for the monorail system, has been asked to look into the possibilities of including Attingal in the project. The NATPAC team led by Director B G Sreedevi and senior scientist Tomy Cyriac, who are doing the feasibility study, are expected to complete their work in two months. ‘’We have begun the feasibility study and it will be over in two months’ time,’’ Sreedevi said. The team would now conduct a traffic study to evaluate the volume of traffic to be expected at various points through which monorail would pass. Since Onam is not a proper time to conduct a traffic study, the team has to wait for a normal week post the Onam celebrations to kick-start the study.‘’We will probably take up the traffic study some time next week. Even rains will affect the traffic study, so the weather has to be pleasant too,’’ said Tomy Cyriac. The Scomi group, the urban transit system provider which is constructing India’s first monorail in Mumbai, presented a demonstration of the monorail traffic system planned for Mumbai at the meeting. According to officials, the monorail project in Thiruvananthapuram would be possible on a PPP (Public-private partnership) basis. Since monorail is expensive, with nearly ` 3,000 crore (approximate) expected for 28.4 km, the government would not be able to burden the expenses alone. The transit routes have also not yet been decided. Though Pattom and Palayam have been included for sure, the rest of the monorail route is under consideration only. Whether it will connect with Balaramapuram via Medical College or via Kesavadasapuram is still not certain. Palayam has ben envisaged as a hub since it could be a connecting route to the airport in the future. As of now, one hectare of the total acquired land at Technocity has been planned as the yard/depot for the maintenance works. According to officials, the monorail would, in all likelihood, have six coaches, though it might start with two or four in the beginning. Once the major artery is decided, the NATPAC team would submit its report to the government.
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