International train experts to develop TT transit system

WORKS AND Transport Minister Colm Imbert said Government will be utlising the best international expertise it can find to design and build a $15 billion train-based mass transit system in Trinidad and Tobago, but he hinted that it may be looking to the Far East for those experts. Addressing a Comprehensive National Transportation Study (CNTS) meeting at the Crowne Plaza Hotel yesterday, Imbert said there was a lot of misconception in the media about the exact type of railway system which Government is planning to establish in TT.

The minister explained that Government was looking at a comprehensive, national train system. This would involve monorails (elevated railways) operating from Diego Martin through Port-of-Spain and along the East-West corridor as far as Sangre Grande, and ground railways from Barataria southwards to Chaguanas, Couva and San Fernando. Imbert hinted that the railway system (which will take ten to 15 years to build) will even stretch as far south as Debe, Siparia and La Brea.

“In order to make the correct investment decision, the Government of TT has requested the consultants in the CNTS to bring their expertise to bear on evaluating this option immediately and thoroughly,” he stated. The minister was confident that by year’s end proposals would be invited for the construction of a limited first phase rail system “that will deal with the most viable section of the East-West corridor.” Imbert added that the overwhelming national view was that the return of the train is the solution to many of TT’s current transportation problems.

Speaking afterwards with reporters, Imbert said China could be one source of international expertise for the railway system and Government will also be looking for assistance in Australia, North America, India and Europe. The minister envisioned the simultaneous development of a park-and-ride system (a series of secured parking lots or garages located close to the train stations) with the introduction of the trains. Imbert said this could mean multi-storey parking lots in places such as Port-of-Spain, and there were challenges with suitable land space to be addressed. The minister did not see the trains causing any conflict with taxi or maxi-taxi operators, and was optimistic that they would adjust and help to establish an integrated transportation system in TT.

Imbert said an important difference between the 2005 CNTS and the 1967 National Transportation Plan was that the former also addresses the nation’s sea and air transportation sectors “separately and together with the land sector.” He said the CNTS will develop plans for both Trinidad and Tobago, “paying particular attention to the similarities and differences between the two islands.”

Imbert declared that the CNTS “is exceedingly relevant and long overdue and gives us the answers to cure and prevent the suffocation of our transport system and economy.” According to Imbert, without a clear transportation strategy, attempts to change TT’s existing transport systems would be disastrous. He called for collaboration and cooperation between the relevant State agencies, stating that it was unacceptable for the ministry’s Highways Division to be unaware of the Water and Sewerage Authority’s (WASA) works on major roads, or for the police to be unable to access vehicle registration and ownership information. Imbert said casting blame was pointless and “what we need to do instead is to acknowledge that there are shortcomings within the system that must be identified and eliminated.”