The Grand Vision Hits a Red Light
For years, Tamil Nadu’s booming Tier-2 cities, Coimbatore and Madurai, have been earmarked for ambitious metro rail networks. Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) were drafted, outlining extensive corridors to ease traffic congestion and fuel economic growth.
The plan for Coimbatore involved a 39-km elevated line, while Madurai's proposal included a nearly 32-km network with both elevated and underground sections. These projects, estimated to cost over Rs 22,000 crore combined, were positioned as the next logical step in the state's urban development, promising to bring Chennai-like mobility to its industrial and cultural hubs. However, in late July and early August 2026, the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) rejected the revised proposals for a second time. The Centre cited several reasons, including that the cities do not meet the 20-lakh population benchmark based on the 2011 Census and that projected ridership figures were insufficient to justify the massive investment.
The Last-Mile Conundrum
Beyond the headline-grabbing debate on population figures lies a more practical, and perhaps more critical, flaw pointed out by the Centre: a metro system without adequate feeder services and last-mile connectivity cannot attract enough riders. This 'last-mile' refers to the final leg of a person's journey—the trip from a metro station to their home, office, or final destination. If this link is broken, inconvenient, or expensive, the entire public transport system suffers. Studies show that poor last-mile access is a primary reason for lower-than-expected ridership in many Indian metros. In its rejection, MoHUA specifically noted that the proposals themselves acknowledged the underdeveloped city bus networks in both Coimbatore and Madurai. This weakness means that even with a state-of-the-art metro, passengers would struggle to get to and from stations, eroding the very convenience the system is meant to provide.
Why It Undermines the Entire Project
The ministry's analysis concluded that for the average trip lengths in Coimbatore and Madurai, the time saved by taking the metro would be minimal once you factor in the time spent walking to a station, waiting for a train, and getting from the destination station to your final stop. This effectively negates one of the primary benefits of a high-cost metro system. The cost of the last-mile journey, often involving auto-rickshaws or ride-hailing services, can sometimes exceed the metro fare itself, making the whole trip unaffordable for many. This issue is not unique to these proposals; studies in other cities have found that last-mile travel can account for a significant portion of the total commute cost and time. By flagging this issue, the Centre is highlighting a crucial lesson from India's urban transport experience: building expensive rail lines is only half the battle. Without an integrated network of feeder buses, safe pedestrian pathways, and affordable shared transport options, these massive investments risk being severely underutilised.
A Bus-Based Alternative?
Instead of metro rail, the Centre has recommended that Tamil Nadu explore a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) for both cities. A BRTS uses dedicated lanes to allow buses to travel faster and more reliably than in mixed traffic, offering a higher capacity than regular bus services at a fraction of the cost of a metro. MoHUA also pointedly mentioned that Tamil Nadu's non-participation in the PM e-Bus Sewa scheme was a missed opportunity to strengthen the city bus fleets that are essential for providing the last-mile links a metro would need. However, the BRTS suggestion comes with its own challenges. Activists and officials have noted that major roads in cities like Madurai lack the width for dedicated at-grade bus lanes, which could necessitate an elevated BRTS—requiring new feasibility studies and planning.
