The Chandigarh Metro and why I believe it's a bad idea.

Hi, thank you for coming. I was planning this as a reply to a comment, but thought making a (massive) post made more sense. So strap in. If you don't feel like reading, back away now. ^(You have been warned.) # Why is having a metro network in Chandigarh, a bad idea? Short answer? Overkill. Long answer? *Inhale.* Delhi needed a metro to connect it because the road infrastructure was literally falling apart and the amount of traffic was far beyond anything Chandigarh has even come close to yet. Chandigarh on the other hand was always planned to be of a limited size since day 1. Delhi was not. That's the biggest difference in play here. All of Chandigarh would be covered within a **maximum** of 4 metro stations. That's it. It's not going to cover each sector. Just one or two points. Traffic might *slightly* dip for a month or two but would scale right back up to its original state quickly, given the rate at which vehicles are being sold. Now, just compare the maps of the NCR and the CCR to scale and you'll see exactly what I'm talking about. **34,000 square kilometers versus 340 square kilometers.** The metro could connect Chandigarh and all adjoining areas like Panchkula, Zirakpur, Mohali, Kharar, Mullanpur, all the way to Dera Bassi and even Pinjore, and all areas in between, and would still not be economically viable. Additionally, all these places fall under governments who will do anything to make the other look bad. So expect a massive amount of petty red-tape bullshit to slow the process even further as they pass the buck to each other and Chandigarh gets stuck in the middle, like it has been happening for decades. **This is why Chandigarh was made a UT in the first place.** Our state governments cannot even share water properly, do you think they'll buddy up because of the metro? The Central government cannot impose on them without causing a massive shitstorm either. Delhi is the capital of our country and under one government. Any party in power there wouldn't be facing political challenges by other parties and would know that building the metro would make them, and only them, look good if they were the ones who got it done. They would have the resources to do so, because again, capital of the country and a large area, not just two states and a Central government all fighting each other tooth and nail over a place that is a fraction of the size. I've been travelling to and living in Delhi (as well as other metros) for more than 30 years so I know firsthand exactly how badly the roads were screwed wherever the stations and the tracks were built. And they were screwed for years. Chandigarh is far more condensed and wouldn't be able to handle that kind of disruption. Remember how badly traffic gets affected here whenever there is VVIP movement? Think that, but for every station and every connecting track being built. Even the underground stations and tracks required significant disruption to the areas above them. They're not going to risk cave-ins at construction sites and will stop traffic in those spots for safety reasons as well. Then of course there is the social aspect. Delhi has a **MASSIVE** working population, many of whom would depend on the metro to travel daily. Remember, **the population of Delhi is more than 50 times the population of the Tricity** (as per most recent estimates). We simply do not have the numbers to make it feasible, at least till the adjoining areas don't become large enough. Which is a long way away. I'm not even getting into the greenery/social/pollution debate here. Simply approaching this from a logical and logistical standpoint. I'm all for progress but **a metro isn't the panacea a lot of posters here think it will be**. The real estate bubble in this region is bad enough but property prices will skyrocket even further, because builders will price homes near metro stations more, like they do in every major city. The traffic will not go away, but it will get worse for years, till the metro is finally up and running, if at all. If you think the roads are fucked now, imagine that with the construction that the metro network will require. The administration here can barely handle the upkeep of all the existing infrastructure. What do you think will happen when we throw a multi-city metro network into the mix? **So, what can we do?** Progress is important, crucial even. But I don't think we need to follow the NCR's example. We should leverage our strengths. [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317080861\_STUDY\_OF\_AUTOMATIC\_TRAFFIC\_SIGNAL\_SYSTEM\_FOR\_CHANDIGARH](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317080861_STUDY_OF_AUTOMATIC_TRAFFIC_SIGNAL_SYSTEM_FOR_CHANDIGARH) This is a research paper that shows how an automated AI based traffic system can greatly alleviate the traffic problems in the city. The planned nature of Chandigarh makes it the perfect place for implementation of this, like almost all traffic policies. We could use AI to run traffic signals in a way where traffic can flow smoothly. If you notice, a lot of traffic lights in the city skip major chunks of their countdowns when there is little to no traffic. Optimizing this further could make things even smoother. As for high traffic volume areas, building underpasses would be far less disruptive than building whole metro stations and rail networks. Case in point being the recent flyover that was made to go from Panchkula to Zirakpur. Took a year or so, but managed to completely eliminate the traffic jams that happened at the Panchkula Sector 21 lights as people travelled from Panchkula to Chandigarh. Can be done by the individual state governments without having to lock horns with the others. Plus it makes them look good for doing so, so there's greater political incentive. Fast-tracking these constructions outside in areas outside Chandigarh would address traffic woes a lot quicker and cause much fewer issues. Using the AI traffic system in Chandigarh could keep traffic flowing without disruption. **Copy-pasting what Delhi did will not solve the issues here because this ain't Delhi.** Traffic will always be a problem till we stop buying large cars only to drive in them alone. Carpooling would do a lot to reduce traffic, as would embracing (and enhancing) road-based public transport. Get the auto drivers to start using their meters instead of bullying us into submission. Fixing these issues would be much more cost-effective. With these things in place, every corner of the region will become far more accessible without causing the kind of chaos building a metro network would. If we're supposed to be a smart city, lets try and find smart solutions to these issues by thinking them through and finding the most efficient solutions, instead of hoping for some miracle cure without considering what it might cost us. Feel free to share your thoughts below. Let's constructively figure out solutions instead of waiting for the morons-in-charge to think of something. **We got this.** Thank you. *Exhale.*