There is so much difference between the metro stations in Delhi and Chennai, according to Marcus Jeutner, an urban planner from Germany.

Marcus, who is part of the German delegation to participate in the German India Round Table (Coimbatore chapter), feels that stations in Chennai aren’t well planned. “They are not built in a way that they could be used for any commercial purpose in future,” he says.

Marcus was in Chennai in 2012 to work on his thesis on Chennai Metro Rail project.

“Infrastructure is the back bone of growth. It will improve the living conditions of people,” he adds.

Coimbatore, according to him, is a beautiful place to walk around. ”I spent my last three days mostly by walking around. The city is quite well connected and it easy to walk around.” He feels cycling would be a good option as there is no separate lane for that, as in the West.

Asked whether BRTS or MRTS will suit Coimbatore (a topic which was most discussed during the conference) he says it was important to identify why people were moving before deciding on the system. On BRTS, he says signals should be replanned in Coimbatore if authorities decide to opt for BRTS. “The reason is it has not been successful in many parts of the world.”