Chennai Metro Rail’s phase II work to construct pillars along Old Mahabalipuram Road (OMR) from Sholinganallur to SIPCOT has begun. Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) hopes to open the stretch by 2027, provided the work is not delayed in the coming months.
Planned with three corridors – Madhavaram to SIPCOT (corridor 3), Light House to Poonamallee (corridor 4) and Madhavaram to Sholinganallur (corridor 5) – the ₹61,843-crore phase II project has gained momentum and work is progressing at a fairly brisk pace on some of the stretches, including Poonamallee-Porur and Madhavaram-Retteri, which are likely to be the first to be opened to the public, by 2026.
The construction along OMR, which will be covered under corridor 3, is being carried out as two separate contracts – Nehru Nagar-Sholinganallur and Sholinganallur-SIPCOT. CMRL plans to build the Nehru Nagar-SIPCOT portion as a full elevated stretch with 19 stations.
Though the work between Nehru Nagar and Sholinganallur took off a long time ago and is making headway, the work on the Sholinganallur-SIPCOT stretch started more recently. According to CMRL officials, the contractor has started building the test pile now, and after a month, the piling work will commence in full swing.
“Unlike some major challenges in stretches like Alandur-Adambakkam or Porur-Power House, we are not expecting any big hurdles on OMR. Initially, there were design changes which is why it took some time to award the contract and start the work. But now that even land acquisition is mostly complete, we should be able to finish the work in three years and, after trials, launch it for public at the earliest,” a CMRL official added.
