The Chennai Central Metro Rail station will open on Friday, allowing commuters to travel directly from the station to two crucial transport hubs — the CMBT and the airport.
Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Housing And Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri will inaugurate the stretches — Nehru Park to Central and Saidapet to AG-DMS at the Chennai Egmore Metro Rail station on Friday.
Deputy Chief Minister O. Pannerselvam, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and other Ministers, including M.C. Sampath and D. Jayakumar, will be present.
Frequency up
The frequency of trains will go up from Friday, from seven minutes to five during rush hours. Alternatively, there will be a train every five minutes from Central to the airport and from Central to St. Thomas Mount, sources said. “If the number of users goes up, we may increase the frequency to two and half minutes,” he added.
The opening of the Central Metro Rail station also increases the maximum fare by ₹10. Hence, the longest journey by the Metro, from Central to the airport, will cost ₹70. At present, the minimum fare is ₹10 and the maximum fare is ₹60.
The stretch from Central to Nehru Park covers a distance of 2.7 km. The stretch from Saidapet to AG-DMS is 4 km. This will allow commuters to travel directly to the airport from AG-DMS.
While the Saidapet Metro station is located close to Panagal Maligai, the AG-DMS station is near the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services.
Japanese funding
The two stretches are part of the phase I project that cost ₹14,600 crore.
The government of Japan had given ₹110 billion, the Consul General of Japan said.
