Moving India: Chennai, a city straining under its own transport speed

Charging towards tomorrow on yesterday's transport system, TN's restless capital has blown past the limits of its own network - and a trillion-rupee overhaul now tries to teach city how to move again

Ayyappan P is an assistant professor at a leading private university in Padur, near Chennai. Every day, he travels about 25 kilometres (km) from his home in New Perungalathur to the campus — a trip that should take 40–45 minutes. Instead, to reach work by 8.30 am, he leaves home around 6.30 am, even though he never enters the city’s core. Thanks to Chennai’s traffic, he spends more than three hours a day on the road. 

“Lack of traffic-rule awareness among drivers, the absence of proper signals at key junctions like Vandalur, Kandigai, and Mambakkam, and routine blockages push my