Green signal for elevated Metro line at Guindy

Southern Railway has given its nod for the elevated track proposal at Guindy station where the EMU service and metro rail will co-exist.

According to Southern Railway's divisional railway manager S. Anantharaman, CMRL could now go ahead and build the tracks. “Integrating the two facilities would be a value addition to both the suburban EMU service as well as the Chennai Metro,” he told The Hindu. Over 50,000 passengers use the suburban railway station at Guindy every day.

According to officials at CMRL, about 40 per cent progress has been made in the construction of Guindy metro station. “Passengers will have easy access to the race course and the industrial estate from the station through foot overbridges. It is only about a kilometre away from Kathipara junction,” a senior official said.

The integration seeks to ease congestion in and around Guindy, officials said. The Guindy metro station is part of Corridor 1 that covers over 23 km from Washermenpet to the airport.

Metro rail will be integrated with EMU service or MRTS at St. Thomas Mount, Chennai Central, High Court, Washermenpet and Chintadripet stations, too.

The elevated corridor from Koyambedu to St. Thomas Mount will intersect with the other elevated stretch from Chennai Airport to Little Mount at Alandur. Considerable progress has been made on the Koyambedu-St. Thomas Mount stretch. “Tracks have been laid to cover about 250 metres. A team from CMRL has gone to France to inspect the second consignment of rails we are about to purchase,” the CMRL official said.