After months of anticipation, commuters taking the Chennai Metro Rail may finally be able to travel through the underground stretch from Thirumangalam to Nehru Park without any disruption in mobile phone connectivity from February.
According to officials of the Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL), work on installing mobile transmitters has begun. The system was tested at the Nehru Park Metro Rail station, and it will be done at the other stations in the coming weeks.
Initial testing
“The testing of the system went well. We have to complete the laying of cables and other ancillary work. Then, we may have a final testing process. If the mobile transmitters are installed, there will not be any disruption,” an official said.
The stretch from Thirumangalam to Nehru Park is 8 km long with stations at Thirumangalam, Anna Nagar Tower, Anna Nagar East, Shenoy Nagar, KMC, Pachaiyappa’s College and Nehru Park. It is the first underground stretch in the city and was opened in May.
Since then, commuters have complained of not being able to use their phones while travelling.
S. Lakshmi, a resident of Shenoy Nagar who travels to Meenambakkam for work, said, “On many occasions, I am forced to postpone conference calls with clients from work. The first time I travelled through this stretch, I wasn’t aware of this issue. I was on an important call which got disconnected as the train entered Thirumangalam station. I was restless and frustrated by the time I got out.”
Though connectivity issues are common in many Metro Rail systems, such as in Delhi, the signal is not completely lost like in Chennai, commuters said.
Sreedhar Subramanian, a resident of Anna Nagar, who occasionally takes the Metro, said officials should plan to install such important facilities when operations begin.
