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Chennai Metro: You Can Board A Train Every Two Minutes From Chennai Central Next Month
A Chennai Metro Rail train travels along the track between the airport and Little Mount in Chennai. Photo credit: ARUN SANKAR/AFP/GettyImages
Chennai Metro Rail Limited (CMRL) is set to throw open the remaining 2.5 km of Chennai Metro’s 22 km-long Green Line connecting Chennai Central to St Thomas Mount by this month end. The last stretch of the line is completely underground and will connect the current northern terminus at Nehru Park with the city’s two main outstation railway termini at Chennai Egmore – where it will pass 19 m below the existing railway station – and Chennai Central where it meets the Blue Line connecting the airport and the suburban lines at the Moore Market Complex and Chennai Park.
Originally set to open in mid-April, the opening was pushed back due to a delay in getting a clearance from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety (CMRS). CMRL will simultaneously open up the four km stretch of the Blue Line from Little Mount to AG-DMS station on Anna Salai (Mount Road). The overall length of the Metro’s operational section is set to go up from 27.8 km to 35 km.
The Egmore Metro station will measure 8,000 sq m and will feature connections to the Indian Railways’ station above it. Work on completing the footbridges and escalators is on-going with work being done by both CMRL and Southern Railways.
Officials say that the CMRL plans to operate trains two and a half minutes apart during peak hours. CMRL is also planning to increase the frequency of trains during off-peak hours by bringing down the waiting time from 20 minutes to five minutes between two trains. The system witnesses peak traffic from 8.30 am to 10.30 am in the morning while 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm forms the evening rush hour.
The CMRL currently operates trains every 30 minutes from Shenoy Nagar to the aiport that changes lines after the Alandur station. It plans to extend these services to Central as well.
Once the link to Central is opened, Chennai will be among the few cities with a single metro line connecting the two major railway termini – Central and Egmore, the city’s main bus terminus – the Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) at Koyambedu, and the airport.
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