Soon, commuters from Inner Ring Road or 100 Feet Road who want to travel to Anna Salai may get direct Metro trains, which will save transit time and effort.
According to Chennai Metro Rail Ltd. (CMRL) officials, the possibility of running direct trains from stations located along Inner Ring Road to stations located in Anna Salai is being explored. At present, commuters change trains at Alandur. If this new plan is implemented, then any commuter who boards a train at stations such as Koyambedu, Vadapalani or Ekkatuthangal can travel to Guindy, Saidapet, Teynampet or Nandanam in Anna Salai without changing trains at Alandur.
CMRL’s Phase I project with about 45 km distance has two corridors —Washermenpet to Airport (Corridor I – 23 km) and Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount (Corridor II –21. 96 km). There are direct trains in some stretches which include from Chennai Central to airport, Chennai Central to St. Thomas Mount and Washermenpet to airport.
“We have thousands of passengers, especially working professionals, travelling from areas such as Koyambedu, Vadapalani or Ashok Nagar to their offices in Guindy, Nandanam, Teynampet, AG-DMS or Saidapet along Anna Salai. These commuters have to change trains at Alandur. To reduce their time and effort, we have been mulling about operating direct trains. We are doing a study and inspections to see how feasible it is to carry out this plan,” an official said.
Sources said if this comes into effect, the frequency of Metro trains on some stretches may be reduced. But there were challenges involved in this plan, a source said. “The announcement system and Passenger Information Display System should be clear in directing commuters failing which they will get confused. Also, the signalling and other systems should function without any glitch,” he added.
