After a seven-year delay, a partly-ready travelator facility was inaugurated by Civil Aviation Secretary R.N. Choubey and Tamil Nadu Chief secretary Girija Vaidyanathan at the Chennai airport on Sunday.
The facility will be open to the public only from April 14, as the travelator currently connects only the domestic terminal with the Chennai Airport Metro Rail station. Work to link it with the international terminal is expected to take two more weeks, officials said.
The 600-metre-long travelator was constructed at an estimated cost of ₹80 crore.
The project was originally part of the phase I expansion project of 2013, but was dropped owing to various reasons.
According to sources at the Airports Authority of India (AAI), the cost of constructing the travelator would have been much less if it had been taken up as planned. “We spent nearly double the amount because of the delay,” an official said.
An escalator will be installed at the rear entrance of the Chennai Airport Metro Rail station in two weeks, officials said.
Passengers at the domestic and international terminals, who want to take the Metro Rail, can use the travelator to reach the rear entrance of the station using the connecting tube and can get to the concourse level (where tickets are sold) using the escalator.
Second airport
The Civil Aviation Ministry is keen to begin the construction of the second airport for the city as soon as possible, Mr. Choubey said.
“We have requested the State government to identify a site. We can take further action [only after a site is identified]. We are waiting [to hear] from the State government,” he said.
Mr. Choubey said flight services from Chennai to Hosur would be available in three months and by the end of the year, services would be operated between the city and Thanjavur, Vellore and Neyveli.
