Kilambakkam bus terminus

Proposed bus terminal in Chennai, India

Kilambakkam Bus Terminus
Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus

* * *

Kiḷāmpākkam Pēruntu Muṉaiyam
Kalaiñar Nūṟṟāṇṭu Pēruntu Muṉaiyam

TNSTC, SETC, MTC and Contract Carriage Bus Terminus.
General information
Other names| Kilambakkam Bus Terminus
Location| Grand Southern Trunk Road, Kilambakkam, Urapakkam, Chennai Metropolitan Area, Chengalpattu district 603210
Tamil Nadu
India
Owned by| CMDA
Platforms| 215
Bus routes|

* Tamil Nadu
* Chennai Metropolitan Area

Bus operators|

* Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation
* State Express Transport Corporation (Tamil Nadu)
* Metropolitan Transport Corporation (Chennai)
* KSRTC SWIFT
* 150+ Contract Carriage bus operators.

Connections| Chennai Metro (future) Chennai Suburban Railway (future), MTC
Construction
Structure type| At-grade
Parking| Yes
Bicycle facilities| Yes
Accessible| Yes
History
Opened| 30 December 2023
Passengers
3,50,000/day Expected

Kilambakkam Bus Terminus, officially Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus,[1] is a bus terminus in Kilambakkam, Urapakkam along GST Road on the outskirts of Chennai for catering to the bus services towards the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu. It became operational on 30 December 2023.[2] Spread over an area of 88.52 acres (358,200 m2),[3] it is built to decongest the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus in Koyambedu. It will chiefly handle buses to southern Tamil Nadu, including cities such as Kanniyakumari, Madurai, Thoothukudi, Tiruchirappalli, Tirunelveli, Cuddalore, Pondicherry, Tiruvannamalai, Sengottai, Kumbakonam,Thanjavur and Villupuram. It is an integrated bus terminus of mofussil buses operated by TNSTC, SETC KSRTC SWIFT and contractual (omni) buses. It will be connected to other parts of the Chennai Metropolitan Area and suburbs by MTC buses. Once the construction is completed this one will be Asia's biggest Bus Station.

## Timeline[edit]

The proposed bus stand would be located in the Vandalur zone. The 88 acres for building the bus terminus lies within protected and prohibited zone of Archaeological Survey of India as it contains "Megalithic Burial Sites." According to an amendment to the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act (AMASR Act) in January 2010, all constructions are banned within 100 metres of ASI-protected areas and any construction or reconstruction or repair of a building with 200 metres of such areas requires permission from NMA.[4]

Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) asked Reach Foundation to undertake the Heritage Impact Assessment for development of the terminus and submit a report.[5] NMA gave its clearance for construction of bus terminus with a total height of 34 metres on five conditions. These include that there should be no development in the 100 metre prohibited area except greenery; boundary of the site and signages should be done by the State government; space for education and interpretation of the site for public; involvement of archaeologist at the time of excavation and mitigation measures to be taken at the time of construction.[6]

The foundation stone was laid on 22 February 2019 by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.[7] The proposed terminus will be built at a cost of ₹ 3,940 million. The design and engineering consultant is C.R. Narayana Rao (Consultants) Private Limited for this project. The bus terminus was inaugurated by Chief Minister M K Stalin on 30 December 2023.[2]

## Facilities[edit]

The size of the land earmarked for the project is 88.52 acres. The total built-up area is 640,000 square feet with 215 bus bays, including 130 bays for government buses and 85 bays for omni buses, besides 3.99 acre area of parking spaces for 300 spare buses, 1.99 acre area for 275 cars and 3,582 two wheeler at any given time.[8][9]

The proposed terminus will have 2,014-square-meter area of public lobby with the following facilities:

* "Mother's room", medical centre, clinic, two store room, cloak room and an ATM
* A gents dormitory to accommodate 100 males and Ladies Dormitory to accommodate 40 females; 4 nos of driver dormitory to accommodate for 340's drivers
* Four toilet blocks on the ground floor, a security/CCTV room, six electrical room and control room
* 20 ticket counters, 3 transport offices and 3 time offices
* 2 restaurants over 405 square meters, 40 retail stores across an area of 1,402 square meters
* Fire service station over 0.54 acre/Electrical sub station across 0.98 acre/sewage treatment plant across 0.96 acre

### Bus Bays[edit]

The terminus has 14 platforms in 8 bus fingers. Mofussil bus bays have been designed in a space of 14 acres to accommodate 130 government buses and 85 omni buses, offering connectivity to cities and towns in the southern parts of Tamilnadu.

An MTC bus terminus has also been planned in a space measuring 7.4 acres adjacent to GST Road, with a platform 1,100 metres long and four metres wide, covered with roofing eight metres wide.

A space of two acres has also been earmarked for a bus depot with a workshop.

## Metro[edit]

An extension of the Chennai Metro Blue Line and Purple Line to the bus terminus has been announced, with a feasibility study completed and land surveys in progress.[10]

## See also[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kilambakkam bus terminus.

* Broadway Bus Terminus
* Chennai Egmore Railway Station
* Chennai Contract Carriage Bus Terminus
* Madhavaram Mofussil Bus Terminus
* Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G.R. Bus Terminus
* Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central Railway Station
* Tambaram railway station
* Transport in Chennai

Portals:

* India
* Transport
* Engineering

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Kilambakkam bus terminus to be opened in June, rechristened as Kalaignar Centenary Bus Terminus". The Indian Express. 14 April 2023. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
2. ^ a b "Tamil Nadu CM Stalin inaugurates Kilambakkam bus terminus near Chennai". CNBCTV18. PTI. 30 December 2023. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
3. ^ "Vandalur Kilambakkam bus terminus to open in 18 months". The Hindu. Chennai: Kasturi & Sons. 23 February 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
4. ^ Shivakumar, C (25 April 201). "Bus terminus at burial site? CMDA gets 'stop work' notice from ASI". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
5. ^ Shivakumar, C (26 October 2018). "CMDA hopes to push case for Kilambakkam terminus project with heritage impact report". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
6. ^ Baraasu, Rudran (25 February 2019). "Kilambakkam bus terminus awaits NMA nod". DT NEXT. Chennai. Archived from the original on 23 March 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
7. ^ Kabirdoss, Yogesh (22 February 2019). "Chennai: Foundation stone laid for Kilambakkam bus terminus". The Times of India. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
8. ^ "Kilambakkam bus terminus: CM to break ground today". New Indian Express. Chennai. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
9. ^ Shivakumar, C (8 October 2017). "Bot model likely for new bus terminus". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
10. ^ "Chennai Metro begins land survey for Airport-Kilambakkam corridor".