While a section of the public continue to demand a metro rail in the city, another section has mooted metro rail connecting Coimbatore with the nearby cities and towns. File.
| Photo Credit: K. Pichumani
The story so far: Coimbatore Metro Rail, a mass rapid transit system, was mooted for Coimbatore 16 years ago, in 2010, when the Central government decided to introduce it in tier-two cities. However, a detailed project report submitted by the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) to the Union government twice in the last two years was rejected. This has put the second largest city of Tamil Nadu’s aspirations for a mass public transport service on an ambiguous trajectory.
How did Coimbatore embark on the ambitious proposal for a metro rail?
The Manmohan Singh government at the Centre decided in 2010 to introduce metro rail project in 16 tier-two cities in the country, including Coimbatore. The demand for a mass rapid transit system was on in Coimbatore city even before that and the debate was whether the city should get a mono rail or a metro rail. When former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Jayalalithaa assumed office in 2011, she announced a mono rail project for Coimbatore. However, E. Sreedharan, the former Managing Director of the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), conducted a survey in Coimbatore in 2013 and said the city was qualified for a metro rail project.
In 2017, the State government revived this proposal and both, the Centre and the State said metro rail will be introduced in Coimbatore. The CMRL was entrusted with the task of preparing a DPR the next year. A metro rail project covering 39 km was planned for Coimbatore city at ₹10,740 crore, featuring elevated corridors along Avinashi Road up to Karumathampatti and from Ukkadam to Valiyampalayam Junction on Sathyamangalam Road.
In 2021, the Tamil Nadu, announced allocation of ₹ 6,683 crore to implement the metro rail in the city.
What was the CMRL proposal for Coimbatore?
The CMRL initially planned to implement Coimbatore Metrol Rail Lite at ₹9,424 crore, covering a distance of 138.9 km in three phases. It announced in July 2023 that an elevated metro rail project will be implemented at ₹9,000 crore along Sathyamangalam road and Avinashi Road for a total length of 39 km and will have 32 stations.
On Avinashi Road, the line will be from Ukkadam to Neelambur and a line connecting with the airport, with a total of 17 stations. On Sathyamangalam road, it will be from Coimbatore railway junction to Valiyampalayam and will have 14 stations. The proposal involved acquiring 38-40 acres for the depots and 35 acres for the carriageway. The metro was to have three coaches with a capacity of 250 people in each, coving the distance in five minutes to seven minutes initially.
What are the grounds on which the Centre has rejected the proposal?
The Tamil Nadu government recommended the Coimbatore metro rail project on February 16, 2024 and November 29, 2024. In a reply dated November 14, 2025, the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said the difference in travel time in the city area between metro and by road is estimated to be almost the same and a passenger is said to save just 2-3 minutes by shifting to metro. Further, the population of Coimbatore city according to the 2011 census is 15.84 lakh and the projected daily ridership is 5.9 lakh for 34 km which is higher compared with phase one of Chennai metro. The right of way in some of the locations, including NH Road and Big Bazaar Road is less than 20 metres, making it technically difficul to implement an elevated metro, it said.
A revised proposal was suggested on May 22 this year and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs said in a communication issued on July 22 that the time saving for the commuters and cost of travel are the governing factors for shifting to metre and the revised proposal is “silent about time saving during non peak hours”. Further the “bus system in Coimbatore is not well developed. It is also a fact that metro system without a developed bus system and last mile connectivity cannot fetch ridership (for the metro).” The reply said “the proposal of Coimbatore has been returned after examining the proposal in entirety.
What is the way forward for the proposal?
While a section of the public continue to demand a metro rail in the city, another section has mooted metro rail connecting Coimbatore with the nearby cities and towns — Tiruppur, Pollachi, and Mettupalayam. Since a large number of people travel for work and business between these cities every day, this can be a viable alignment option.
According to V. Eswaran of Marumalarchi Makkal Iyakkam, who is organising protests against the Centre demanding implementation of the metro rail, a project should be rejected only for technical reasons and not for political reasons. The Centre’s rejection appears to be not only for technical reasons, he says. The Centre and the State governments should do a detailed ground study and take up this project.
Published – August 11, 2026 01:25 pm IST
