New Metro stretches may be launched from Egmore

Civil work at Chennai Central station is taking time

May 14, 2018 12:13 am | Updated 03:47 pm IST - CHENNAI

The venue for the inaugural of the Metro Rail’s two new underground stretches might be the Egmore Metro Rail station and not the Central station, as planned earlier, sources at the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) said.

The earlier plan was to have the function at the Central station, which sprawls over 70,000 sq.m, but there is a delay in finishing civil and other works and, hence it may not be possible to hold the event at the station, according to the sources.

“When the operations begin, all necessary passenger amenities will be available,” an official claims. But the entry/exit points at the ground level have not been built yet, sources said.

Every station needs four entry/exit points, but to begin with, they plan to open only two entry/exit points. They said it was still not clear when the entire station would be fully finished. They refused to comment on why there was a long delay in finishing the construction of the station.

This led to them choose the Egmore station, which looks completed.

“The authorities at the CMRL have inspected this station to see what needs to be set up further for the inauguration,” an official said. The Egmore metro station is about 8,000 sq.m. and is located adjacent to the railway station. Commuters can just walk to the Southern Railway platform and the suburban rail platform within a few minutes.

Final inspection needed

The final inspection by the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS) — whose approval is needed before the CMRL can start operations — will be held for four days.

On Monday and Tuesday, the CMRS officials will visit the 2.7-km stretch from Nehru Park to Central and on Friday and Saturday, they will inspect the 4 km stretch from Saidapet to AG-DMS.

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