This state-of-the-art commercial-cum-residential project, named Ramanujan IT City, will be constructed over an area of 26 acres of land along Old Mahabalipuram Road at Taramani in Chennai.

The Ramanujan IT City is being promoted by TRIL Infopark, a joint venture between the Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited, the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), and Indian Hotels Company.

A press release from the Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited said that the premium residential community of the project – called Cambridge Greens – will be ready to be occupied by the middle of 2011.

The project is a tribute to Srinivasa Ramanujan, the legendary mathematician, from the Tata Group, the Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited said.

The Special Economic Zone will house duly notified IT/ITeS companies, residential apartments, serviced apartments, an international convention centre, malls, security-camera system, children’s play area, a health club, and swimming pools.

There will be, in all, 150 super-luxury apartments in the Ramanujan IT City – ranging from 2,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet – complete with world-class amenities as also the latest fire-detection systems.

Sanjay Ubale, CEO and managing director of Tata Realty and Infrastructure Limited, said in the press release that Chennai is an “emerging IT hub” and that the Ramanujan IT City has been planned to be built in such a way that it will be “the most sought-after property in Chennai” having excellent connectivity, concentration on social infrastructure, as well as contemporary architectural design.

Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM), the world-famous master-planning company based in New York, will prepare the master-plan of the Ramanujan IT City’s residential portion, according to Sanjay Ubale.

The first Duronto train, between Sealdah in Kolkota and New Delhi, was flagged off the other day.

The inaugural run of Southern Railway’s Chennai-Delhi Duronto Express – which covers a distance of 2,177 kilometres – was flagged off by at Chennai Central by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The Duronto Express departs from Chennai Central 6.40 a.m. on Mondays and Thursdays and arrives at Hazrat Nizamuddin at 10.35 a.m. the next day (on Tuesdays and Fridays.) In the return direction, the express will leave Nizamuddin at 4 p.m. on Tuesdays and reach Chennai at 8.10 p.m. on Wednesdays (the next day. The other day of departure from Hazrat Nizamuddin is yet to be unannounced.

The Chennai-Delhi one-way trip on Duronto Express costs Rs 2,530 for the air-conditioned 2-tier coach – as against Rs 2,625 on the Rajdhani Express and Rs 1,960 on Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express.

On both the Duronto Express and the Rajdhani Express, the fare includes the cost of food.  In air-conditioned 3-tier coach, the Chennai-Delhi fare is Rs 1,925 for Duronto Express, Rs 2,005 for Rajdhani Express, and Rs 1,429 for Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express.

The Duronto Express has a speed of 130/kmph since its coaches are made with  upgraded stainless steel, which makes the coaches lighter by about 2 tonnes each, compared to conventional coaches.

However, the Duronto takes nearly 28 hours (27 hours and 55 minutes) to cover the 2,177-kilometre distance between Chennai and Delhi. The running time is 28 hours and 10 minutes for Rajdhani Express, 33 hours for Tamil Nadu Express, and 35 hours for Grand Trunk Express.

A journey in the sleeper-class of Duronto Express costs an extra Rs 760, compared to Rs 528 in Tamil Nadu Express and Grand Trunk Express.

The coaches in Duronto Express are longer than the conventional coaches. There are 72 berths in the air-conditioned 3-tier coach, and 78 berths in the sleeper-class. The Duronto’s additional safety features include auto-closing vestibule doors (which means, each coach gets sealed in the event of a fire) as well as better thermal insulation and sound insulation.

According to M S Jayanth, general manager of Southern Railway, the special design enables the coaches to run at a speed of 130/kmph, compared to 110/kmph that is allowed to conventional express and mail trains.

The speed of the Duronto Express will be raised once the Chennai-New Delhi rail track is upgraded, resulting in further saving of about 2 more hours, Jayanth  said.

The introduction of the Duronto Express takes the number of trains running between Chennai Central and Delhi to 7. This is in addition to the 2 trains operating between Chennai Egmore and Delhi.

Of these North-bound trains, only the Chennai-New Delhi Tamil Nadu Express and the Chennai-New Delhi Grand Trunk Express trains are operated daily. While the Chennai-Jammu Tawi Express runs 3 days a week, the Chennai- Hazrat Nizamuddin Rajdhani Express and the Gharib Rath runs 2 days a week, and the Chennai-Dehradun Express, once a week.

The Chennai metro rail is a rupees 14.600 crore project which aims to provide Chennai with an efficient twin corridor mode of public transport. The project is expected to be completed in 2014-15, and is to be implemented by Chennai Metro Rail Limited. Around 59% of the total cost will be met by concessional Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan from the Japanese government. India and Japan had signed the loan agreement on November 21st, 2008 in Tokyo.

The Chennai metro rail project aims to provide less travel time for the passengers and a larger capacity per rail to ease the growing number of commuters in Chennai. With the total length of 45 km to be covered by the project, the Metro will connect Washermanpet and Chennai Airport and Chennai Fort and St Thomas Mount, with both the corridors partially running underground. Reports suggest that of the total stretch of 45 kms, 24kms will be underground and the rest over ground.

The details of the project are as follows: Corridor 1, with a length of 23.1kms (14.3 kms underground and 8.8 kms elevated), will run from Washermanpet to the Airport via Anna Salai. Corridor II, with a length of 22 kms (9.7 kms underground and 12.3 kms elevated), will run from Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount via Koyambedu. The portions of Corridor I from Washermanpet to Saidapet on Anna Salai, and Corridor II on Periyar EVR Salai and Anna Nagar 2nd Avenue, will be underground.

It was in the year 2006 that Tamil Nadu Cabinet decided to implement the metro rail project in Chennai. The project got thumbs up on January 28th and is being considered one of the finest projects in Asia.

The Project is expected to live up to the estimates that have been made. The estimate that the trains will run every five minutes is expected to touch perfection with the completion of the project. A person commuting in Chennai is expected  enjoy short journey time with a cut in the present journey time by 50 to 75 %; a passenger will be able to travel from Central Station to Anna Nagar in 14 minutes (30 to 40 minutes by bus) and from Mannady to Airport in 44 minutes (75-90 minutes by bus). A huge number of passengers (around 13 lakh per day) who take the road route are expected to be shifted to the rail route with the completion of this project.

After the success of the metro rail project in New Delhi, several cities have kickstarted their own metro projects. It is estimated that Mumbai, Kochi and now Chennai will have completed metro projects within the next 5-6 years.