A Study on Traffic Forecast for Metro Railway Expansion in Chennai

Infrastructure, specifically Transportation forms the backbone for the continuous development of any country and its economy. The cities around the world are facing critical problems due to improper planning and non implementation of modern transportation techniques. Metro being Low Carbon Transport, it is considered as an Eco Sustainable solution to reduce pollution in the city. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the requirement of implementation of metro rail system in an important corridor (Porur to Kamarajar Salai) in Chennai city (India). Methods/Statistical Analysis: In the present work Chennai city is divided into various zones for easy identification and demarcation. The population growth and the vehicle growth along the corridor for the base year 2015 are projected for the future. The survey of passengers in the corridor is done online using Google forms under various headings like trip purpose, trip time, trip cost, trip mode etc. Findings: The results provide the summary details of the existing scenario of the transportation density and its viability for future expansion in this sector. The passengers expect the metro rail travel cost to be around the expenses incurred per kilometre travel in their present mode of transport. Rs.30/- per metro trip is levied in the Corridor- I by Metro is almost closer to the expenses incurred by the commuters in Porur-KamarajarSalai Corridor, making the patronage favourable towards metro. The results of travel characteristics especially the trip purpose and trip distance give a cutting edge in the Sustainability of metro rail in the longer run. The short distance trip by daily trip users will bring more revenues for metro with regards to the infrastructure investment and running cost. The survey shows that the sure patronage of commuters is 84% i.e., are willing to switch over to Metro Rail for commuting, once the services are available. The travel comfort and reduction in travel time are the main considerations in preferring metro rail. It is seen from the analysis that this corridor requires immediate attention for the implementation of the metro rail system before it becomes too late. Application/Improvement: This method is a quick application for finding out the feasibility study on any corridor taking into consideration the details pertaining to the particular corridor and its surroundings. This study involves only the important characteristics that play a cardinal significance on the outcome. Hence it is closer to reality in identifying the information quickly. Keywords: Chennai, CMRL, Low Carbon Transport, Metro Rail, Transport Congestion