Chennai Metro Rail plans to start services on two underground stretches — Nehru Park to Chennai Central and Saidapet to AG-DMS — by the end of the year. Once the former stretch is opened, commuters can take a direct ride from Chennai Central to the airport.
Minister for Industries M.C. Sampath reviewed the progress of the Chennai Metro Rail on Tuesday, and wanted these two stretches operational by the end of the year, sources said.
“He wanted us to speed up the work as soon as possible and extend the services on a priority basis. He spoke of the need to connect to Egmore and Chennai Central at the earliest as it will greatly help commuters,” an official said.
The Nehru Park-Chennai Central stretch is an extension of the first 8km underground stretch from Thirumangalam to Nehru Park.
But sources said it is not clear how feasible this is, as track work from Nehru Park to Chennai Central — a distance of about 3 km — has just started.
Trial runs
After the track work, electrification and signalling work needs to be carried out. Then, trial runs will be done for several weeks before operations begin. Simultaneously, the construction of stations is also in progress at all locations on both these stretches.
Work on the Chennai Metro Rail began way back in 2011 and tunnelling work commenced in 2012. Though the entire network was supposed to be operational by mid-2015, the first stretch from Koyambedu to Alandur was opened only in June 2015. A year later, the second stretch from Little Mount to Chennai airport became operational. In May this year, the first underground stretch from Thirumangalam to Nehru Park was commissioned.
