Premium

Centre cites 5 reasons for rejection of Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore and Madurai metro rail plans

Tamil nadu metro project update, Metro rail policy 2017: India is rapidly expanding its metro rail network, with around 1,083 km of metro and RRTS corridors currently operational across 25 cities in the country.

The Metro Rail Projects are cost intensive which requires extensive appraisal in terms of Metro Rail Policy, 2017

Tamil nadu metro project update: The Metro Rail Projects are cost intensive which requires extensive appraisal in terms of Metro Rail Policy, 2017. (Representative Photo/CMRL)

Written by: Anish Mondal

3 min readDec 8, 2025 04:24 PM IST First published on: Dec 8, 2025 at 03:48 PM IST

Metro rail projects in India: India is rapidly expanding its metro rail network, with around 1,083 km of metro and RRTS corridors currently operational across 25 cities in the country. The Metro Rail Projects are cost intensive which requires extensive appraisal in terms of Metro Rail Policy, 2017 and the approval thereof depends upon feasibility of proposal and availability of resources.

Also Read | Railways upgrades infrastructure at Kamakhya station for upcoming Vande Bharat, Amrit Bharat trains

Tamil Nadu Metro rail project, Metro rail project in Tamil Nadu

The central government on Monday outlined five reasons for returning the metro rail proposals submitted for Coimbatore and Madurai by the Tamil Nadu government.

Also Read | Mumbai suburban railway: ICF to develop 2 non-AC local trains equipped with automatic door closure system

Tamil Nadu Metro rejection

Responding to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Dr. Kanimozhi NVN Somu, who sought to know whether the Centre had officially rejected or declined to process the Metro Rail proposals for the two cities – and the reasons behind such a decision, Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Tokhan Sahu clarified the position.

Also Read | Railway projects in Kerala: DPR work begins for over 750 km new rail lines – check routes

Tamil nadu metro project update

In his reply, Sahu stated that the Central Government considers financial support for metro projects in cities or urban agglomerations based on the feasibility of the proposal, as well as the availability of resources, whenever such proposals are submitted by the respective State Governments.

“GoTN submitted Detailed Project Report (DPR) and Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) for Metro Projects of the Coimbatore and Madurai. The proposals have been examined and returned to Government of Tamil Nadu due to…,” the Union Minister said in a written statement on December 8.

Coimbatore Metro rail project, Metro rail project in Coimbatore

According to Sahu, the proposal for Coimbatore metro rail plan has been returned due to following reasons:

Low average trip lengths and the existing average speeds on road, the modal shift to metro system is not expected due to negligible time savings.
In addition to Coimbatore Municipal Corporation (CMC) Area, population of Local Planning Area (LPA), has been taken to be served by Metro system. It is difficult for people living in LPA, which is 5 times bigger than CMC area to use proposed metro system.
The projected ridership figure of 5.9 lakh per day for proposed network of 34 km of Coimbatore metro is higher as compared to actual ridership figure of 4 lakh per
day on 55 km operational network of Chennai Metro phase-1, which is serving larger population. Therefore projected ridership figures in DPR are not realistic.
At several locations it is not feasible to construct station due to non availability of enough Right of Way (RoW).

Metro rail project in Madurai, Madurai Metro rail project

In the Comprehensive Mobility Plan (CMP) submitted by GoTN, it has been clearly stipulated that the current ridership is justifiable for Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) which is better cost effective system to serve Madurai, the minister said.

Anish Mondal

Anish Mondal is a journalist with over nine years of experience covering the railways and roadways. ... Read More